


A Modern Life

by GothRockFairy, KaytheJay



Series: A Modern Life [1]
Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Aziraphale Loves Crowley (Good Omens), BAMF Crowley (Good Omens), Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley Loves Kids (Good Omens), He/Him Pronouns For Aziraphale (Good Omens), He/Him Pronouns For Crowley (Good Omens), Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), M/M, Original Character(s), Parent Aziraphale (Good Omens), Parent Crowley (Good Omens), Parents Aziraphale and Crowley (Good Omens), Pregnant Aziraphale (Good Omens)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:41:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 39,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29381538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GothRockFairy/pseuds/GothRockFairy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaytheJay/pseuds/KaytheJay
Summary: After Armageddon, Aziraphale and Crowley settle into their new life and decide to start a family.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: A Modern Life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2187294
Comments: 96
Kudos: 42





	1. Demons have mid life crisis?

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello and welcome to another wonderful collaboration between the two of us. We are so glad that you've decided to take the time out of your day to read our creation and we are more than excited to start sharing with you again.

It was long after Armageddon. Long after realizing that they were no longer going to be called upon by their respective bosses for anything. Long after they confessed their feelings for each other and got married. Short after they had their two children, Basil and Florian. 

Everything was going great. A little too well, if Crowley was honest. He was getting  _ quite  _ bored without a life’s mission, and with the kids at school, he really didn’t have himself a distraction.

Aziraphale had returned home from dropping off the children at school and a quick grocery trip. Things were surprisingly domestic for them. He was trying to feel as busy as he could, especially with the children being gone. 

What he wasn’t expecting was all the random, new, expensive stuff in their lovely two-story home. “Uh . . . dear?” 

“Aziraphale?” Crowley replied, knowing damn well what the angel was going to ask next.

“Hon . . . is this all for you?” He looked around. 

Crowley glanced around the room too. He couldn’t even quite remember everything he’d gotten, but he was sure he’d gotten things for everyone. “Well, no,” Crowley replied. “Look, here’s this,” Crowley pointed at a basketball hoop. “This is for the family.” 

Aziraphale laughed at the basketball hoop because he was not into sports at all. “Darling, do the children even show any interest in sports?”

“Erm . . . well about that . . .” Crowley said, trying to come up with an excuse. “Well, we want them to be well-rounded individuals, don’t we? Having a dabble in everything. That includes sports. Maybe they’re not interested now, but it’s something new for them to try.”

Aziraphale went over to his husband. “Crowley . . . are you ok?” He was worried about how Crowley had been acting lately. 

“I’m perfect,” Crowley said, though he didn’t  _ sound  _ perfect. “I have everything I ever could have wanted and more. I have you, I have Basil, I have Florian. No one is dying, and the planet is still here. What else could I want?” He let out a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his neck.

Aziraphale raised a brow but decided to let it slide for once. “I didn’t know you liked motorcycles, my dear.” 

“Ah, yes, well . . . badass vibes and all that,” Crowley replied.

“Alright, well Mr. Badass, come and cuddle me on the couch. I wanted to talk to you.” He patted the couch. 

Crowley noticed the small box for the tube dancer he’d ordered and stuffed it into a cupboard before going to join his husband on the couch. “What’s this about?” 

“Crowley . . . little Florian is four now,” Aziraphale started. 

“It has been four years since he came out of you, so that would make him four,” Crowley replied.

“Yes, my love . . . well . . . I was thinking,” he cleared his throat. 

“Thinking what?” Crowley asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

“Could . . . we try for another precious gift?” He asked.

“A baby,” Crowley said, though that was obviously what the angel had meant. “Aziraphale, we can’t just have a baby every time I’m in cri-” Crowley cut himself off so he didn’t reveal anything he wasn’t feeling ready to talk about. 

Aziraphale caught that and he frowned. “Crowley, you were going to say crisis. What’s wrong, my love?” He gently cupped his face. 

“I . . . uh . . .” Crowley looked around the room to try and find a distraction. He sighed. “I don’t know. It’s just . . . I’m so  _ bored _ . This sort of life was nice at first, but is this really all we’re going to do? With the rest of eternity? Have a baby every few years and call it a day? I absolutely love you and the children, don’t get me wrong about that. I really do. I just . . . there’s part of me that misses the ole working for Hell thing. Never knew what was going to come swinging at you.” 

Aziraphale was not enjoying hearing this conversation. “Why didn’t you say this sooner? Honestly, my feelings are hurt.” He stood up away from him. “I thought . . . we were on the same page.” He gripped his fists. “Then why don’t you just go back to tempting then!” 

“Wait!” Crowley said, standing to chase after the angel. “That’s . . . that’s not what I meant.” 

“Then what?” He sighed trying to keep his composure. 

“I . . . I’m not sure, if I’m being honest,” Crowley said. “That’s really why I bought all this stuff.” Crowley shook his head. “A crisis of sorts, I guess,” he said. “Working for Hell was terrible. And I would rather drink a tall glass of holy water than go crawling back.”

“I don’t know what to think. Please excuse me.” He sighed, going to their bedroom. Aziraphale was just very surprised that Crowley was feeling this way. 

Crowley sat outside the bedroom door. He knew the angel needed his space. He also knew that he needed to process and figure out his own problems. But to do that, he felt like he needed to talk to the angel. So, sitting outside their bedroom was the solution, so he would be right there as soon as the angel was ready.

Aziraphale sat on the bed bored and sad. He had thought this conversation about trying for a baby would have gone well. Now, he felt stupid for bringing it up. Thank goodness the kids were at school. 

Crowley stared at the mess of things that he’d been ordering and miracling into place. Physical proof of his crisis. It wasn’t that he didn’t  _ want  _ another baby, he absolutely did. He loved his children and would love to add another to the family. The more the merrier and all that. However, he also felt that he couldn’t be the best father he could to the kids he already had until he got his stupid feelings of being bored taken care of. He used to be able to put his all into it, but it had gotten to a point that it was the same stuff every single day, but he wasn’t sure what else to do about it. 

Aziraphale huffed and unlocked the door. “You may come in and talk to me. That is, if you have anything to say.” He folded his hands. 

Crowley stood up. “I feel like I owe you a little bit more of an explanation,” Crowley said. “Though there are some things I’m not fully sure of myself.” 

Aziraphale sat on the bed looking at him. “Yes. Go on.” 

“You and the kids are the best things to ever happen to me,” Crowley said. “You really really are. It isn’t even as if I don’t want another baby with you. Having another with you would add to the list of the best things that’ve ever happened. I do want another baby.” 

Aziraphale finally let a smile grace across his lips. “Alright, my love. If you just need a night where you go ride your new motorcycle, then you have my permission. It’s about teamwork.” 

“Teamwork . . . yeah,” Crowley mused. “Maybe you have some ideas on how I can get over my whole “boredom” thing. I’ve run out. My ideas stunk, and I’m really not sure what else we can do. I don’t feel like I can be a good dad until I get my feelings about it sorted.” 

“As long as you don’t intentionally miss out when our children want to play with you. They adore you, Crowley. Please do not disappoint them. For my sake. I beg of you.” He huffed. 

“Of course not,” Crowley replied. “They are the light of my life. I would rather go skinny dipping in a pool of holy water with Michael than hurt them. I think my issue is . . . something that the humans call a “center-life crisis” or whatever you would like to call it, since we technically can’t die.” 

“No, we cannot die. So is it just something that sort of popped up my love? I can do whatever I can to make it better. Be a better husband.” He thought he might be the cause. 

“Oh, it’s nothing to do with you,” Crowley assured. “You’ve been perfect. I’m really not sure what caused it. Maybe the lack of a goal lately. Maybe I need a new goal of sorts.” He thought for a moment. “But I don’t know what that could be.” He smiled wickedly. “Besides the getting you pregnant again thing. That’s not a long term goal though.” 

“Well, my dear, do you have any particular hobbies outside of gardening?” Aziraphale asked politely. 

“I-I’m not sure,” Crowley said. “I spent most of my life not having the time for hobbies, and when I did, I still had to be careful about them. And now that we’re fully free, I’ve been so focused on you and the kids that I guess I just forgot to do some soul-searching like that. Because it really wasn’t important at the time.” 

“I would take some time to really figure out what interests you. Like how I love books and food. Something to that degree.” He kissed Crowley’s cheek.

“I suppose I’m already on my way there,” Crowley said with a nervous laugh. “I’ve made quite the mess with my . . . purchases.” 

“Just promise me the next time you want to buy things you’ll ask, alright?” 

“I think I’m set for a while,” Crowley said. “I don’t even know what’s all out there.” He shook his head. “But the kids are gone,” he murmured, “and it isn’t as though either of us has anything to do. How’s about we work on that baby you asked for.” He smiled at the angel. 

Aziraphale wrapped his arms around him. “Of course, my love. I do hope it won’t take a while. The other two were fairly quick to conceive.” 

“One and done, angel,” Crowley said. “I’ve just got that kind of power.”

Aziraphale chuckled as he kissed Crowley softly. 

While they had their alone time, an angel and a demon  _ worked  _ on bringing about a third little member of their family.


	2. Meet the Kids

The Fell-Crowley children were very sweet and mischievous. Basil, the firstborn, had a take-charge attitude. With her beautiful white hair and her piercing golden eyes, she was quite the sight to behold. And little brother Florian with his bouncy locks of red and his blue eyes with freckles adorning his face. One thing was clear, the children were loved to pieces. They were currently waiting to be picked up by their daddy.

“He’s late.” Florian looked around, all nervous. He needed things to be just so, rather like his mother. 

Basil rolled her eyes as she held her brother’s hand. “Florian, he’s two minutes late. Relax. Look, there’s the car now. Stay put, you know the rules.”

Crowley pulled up and put the car in park. He got out and smiled over at his kids. “Hello you two. How was school? He asked as he walked over to them.

“Boring!” Basil sighed dramatically. 

Florian giggled. “We made pictures today, Daddy!” 

Crowley ruffled Basil’s hair, earning him an exasperated huff before he squatted so he could be at eye level with his son. “Oh, did you now?” Crowley asked. “Did you bring it home?” 

“It’s in my backpack!” Florian giggled as he was getting into the car seat. 

“Can Daddy see it or is it a surprise?” Crowley asked, making sure Florian got buckled in properly. He looked over to check with Basil, but she was independent enough that he felt comfortable leaving her to her own devices.

“Surprise for you and Mommy!” He smiled happily as he folded his hands. 

“Oh alright,” Crowley said. He kissed Florian’s temple before shutting the door and heading to the driver’s seat. “I’ll leave it be then,” Crowley said. He kept his eyes forward but reached his hand back to jokingly take the bag away from Florian.

“No Daddy!” Florian shrieked, batting Crowley’s hand away. Crowley laughed and began the drive home. 

Aziraphale had the children’s after school snacks ready to go, and he smiled. He couldn’t wait to hug and kiss them. 

As they walked in the door, Basil was in the middle of telling a story. Crowley helped the two of them get their shoes off and told them to put their bags where they belonged.

“Oh hello my loves!” He smiled and was so overly happy. 

“Mommy! Guess what!” Florian exclaimed. 

“What is it?” He acted very excited for his son, picking him up. Being a mom was a joy for him. 

“I drewed a picture for you and Daddy!” Florian said excitedly. He rushed back to his backpack to get it out.

Aziraphale went over to kiss Crowley and his daughter. 

“Feeling  _ different _ yet?” Crowley whispered to Aziraphale, certain that Basil couldn’t hear. She had sat down and was focused on eating the snack that Aziraphale had prepared for her.

Aziraphale shook his head. “No, dear. I’ll let you know if I do,” he whispered back. 

“Secrets don’t make friends!” Basil said. 

“Well we’re your parents, not your friends,” Crowley said. “And parents are allowed their secrets.” Florian rushed back into the room and handed his picture to Aziraphale. 

“Look, Mommy! I drewed and I drewed good!”

“Oh! Sweetheart how lovely!” Aziraphale put it on the fridge. 

“Can I have my snack now?” Florian asked. 

“Ah, yes, of course, my baby.” He happily handed it to him.

Crowley looked at the drawing on the fridge. He couldn’t quite tell what it was supposed to be, as was normal for Florian’s drawings, still, he was going to encourage it because drawing was a good hobby to have. “It looks like we have an artist in the family,” he said. “How’s about that.” He smiled and joined his children at the table. He looked over to Basil. “Now, you have to have learned  _ something  _ at school today. Maybe it was boring to you, but I’m interested.” 

Basil wiped her face and handed him a piece of paper. “Here. It’s the father-daughter dance coming up at school.” She blushed. 

“Oh, that’s so nice, sweetheart!” Crowley said. “Your first school dance.” He smiled. “We’ll get you a pretty dress and you’ll get all dressed up. How does that sound?” 

“Really Daddy?!” She was so excited. She talked about her daddy all the time to her friends. 

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Crowley said. He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “You and your brother are the most important things to me,” Crowley said. “Nothing could ever get in the way of that.” He thought for a moment. “We could even get a tie that matches your dress for me to wear.” 

Basil went to hug him close. “Oh, thank you, Daddy! I love you so much! I talk about you all the time at school. You and Mommy!” She clinched to him. 

“Did you think I was going to tell my beautiful baby girl no to dressing her up like a princess for a night and getting a one-on-one night with her?” Crowley asked. He pulled her into his lap and kissed the top of her head. “There’s nothing I would rather do than go to that dance with you.” 

Aziraphale felt his heart swell. Crowley was so perfect with the children. He hoped that Crowley finding a fun outlet would help him feel less like he was living a routine.

Crowley snuck a smile up to the angel before turning his attention back to his daughter, talking to her about how excited he was for the dance. How they could go get ice cream and a special dinner after and she could even stay up past her bedtime afterward and they’d watch a movie together. He pulled out his phone so they could start looking at dresses, though he wanted to take her out to an actual store to pick one. 

Aziraphale walked over to look at the flyer. “Ah, it’s three weeks away. That’s plenty of time to find a proper dress and we can let her get her hair done professionally.” 

“Ooh, doesn’t that sound fun?” Crowley asked Basil. 

“I want to go!” Florian protested. “Why does she get to go and not me?” 

“Darling you and I will have our own fun night,” Aziraphale told him so he wouldn’t get jealous. 

“Like ice cream and movies?” Florian asked. 

“Yes, sweetheart.” he hugged his sweet little boy. 

The children finished their snacks and headed off to the living room to play together. This gave Aziraphale and Crowley a moment to clean up the little bit of mess that the children had made with their snack. Aziraphale was happy to clean after the children, he loved them so. Once the mess had been taken care of (and it was rather quick due to it being two of them), they joined their children out in the living room. The sounds of their children playing were such a joy to their ears. 

“No, no, not like that!” Basil said. “You can’t do that!” She took the toy away from Florian to show him how she wanted him to play with it. “Like this, see?” She gave the toy back to him. “Now you try.” 

“Now Basil, try to be a bit kinder with how you show him.” Aziraphale intervened with their playing before letting them resume. 

“Sorry Florian,” Basil muttered before allowing herself to get reabsorbed into whatever game they were playing. 

“What’s on for tonight then?” Crowley whispered to the angel, not wanting to disturb the kids. 

“When they’re asleep, we can . . . show how much we adore each other.” He kissed Crowley’s hand. 

Crowley squeezed the angel’s hand back. “Of course we can,” Crowley murmured back. He pressed his forehead against Aziraphale’s and smiled. “You deserve a good reminder that you’re loved.” 

Aziraphale closed his eyes and smiled. Crowley had given him the world, and he adored him for it. “I love you so much, darling.” 

“To the moon and into the beyond,” Crowley said. 

Aziraphale leaned in, kissing his husband, forgetting the kids were in the room.

“Gross!” Basil said. “Stop that!” 

Crowley smiled. “Oh we’ll stop. How about we stop and get you?” Before Basil even had time to react, Crowley was on his feet and had her hanging upside down. “What are you going to do now?” He tickled her. “Hm? What are you going to do?” 

Aziraphale went after little Florian so he could feel part of it since he was more fragile than his big sister. 

“You two are in trouble!” Crowley said. “Mama’s coming to get you!” He slowly righted Basil in his arms, though he didn’t let go. 

“Let go!” Basil said with a giggle. “This isn’t fair! You and Mommy are too big!” Crowley arched an eyebrow. 

“Milk, fruit, and vegetables and you’ll get to grow up big and strong.” Without letting go of Basil, Crowley walked over to Aziraphale and stared Florian down. “Daddy’s gonna get you,” he taunted. 

Aziraphale had his little boy, attacking him in kisses. He let Crowley tease Florian gently. Florian squealed and laughed. 

Basil managed to land a punch on Crowley. He feigned defeat and put her down. She rushed over to Aziraphale and began pulling on his arms in order to “save” her brother. All the while, Crowley was pretending to stalk her to catch her again. 

“Anyways, do we want Chinese food for dinner?” Aziraphale yelled over the commotion. He loved his life with his family. After so many years of Heaven’s rigidity, it was nice to be so relaxed. 

Everyone ignored him. Basil was desperate to get Florian out of Aziraphale’s arms so she would have her teammate, and Crowley was too busy trying to make his children laugh. Giving up on getting Florian, Basil turned back to Crowley and decided to sit on his foot. She latched on and refused to let go. Crowley looked down at her with a smile. He looked back up to Aziraphale. 

“Chinese sounds perfect,” Crowley replied. 

Aziraphale went over to the home phone (because he was old fashioned that way) and dialed for delivery since he didn’t want anything messing with their family time. Luckily, he knew what everyone would want. 

By the time he returned, the children had Crowley on the floor and were both sitting on top of him shrieking about having finally won. Crowley was playing dead, though he couldn’t hide the smile on his face. 

Eventually, the food did arrive. Aziraphale called his family. “Dinner time, dumplings.” 

The children came to the table without a fight, hungry from all the play fighting. Aziraphale gave them their food before sitting down beside Crowley. Crowley reached out and squeezed the angel’s hand under the table, sneaking a smile over to him. Once they finished, it was time for their nightly reading to get calmed down before bed. 


	3. The flaw of Humanity

Being a celestial child in a very human world could be difficult. Especially when brooding with so much uncontrollable power at the tips of her fingers. Basil, as sweet as she was, didn’t have a lot of friends. She would often eat lunch by herself and play by herself. That was until a small group of kids came to approach her while she was playing with a bouncy ball.

“Hi guys!” She greeted. “Come to join me?” A snicker ran through the group and Basil’s smile instantly fell. She didn’t know what this could be about, but she knew it couldn’t be good.

“We don’t wanna play with you! You have two daddies!” They laughed at her.

Basil dropped her ball. “No, that’s wrong. I don’t have two daddies. I have a mommy and a daddy!” She said cheerfully. 

The kid that seemed to be the ring leader rolled his eyes. “Then how come we never see your mommy? You get dropped off by a guy and you get picked up by a different guy. All your family drawings have two daddies.” The kid looked at her ball and picked it up. 

“My mommy is a man!” She was just so innocent and honest. 

“That makes you even  _ more  _ of a freak, freak,” the kid fired back. He stuffed Basil’s ball in his pocket. “Mommies aren’t supposed to be  _ men _ .” The kid shook his head and looked over his shoulder. “None of us have men for mommies. All of our mommies are girls. And our daddies are  _ real _ men.”

“My daddy is very much a real man. Please just leave me alone, ok?” Basil tried to end the conflict. She was feeling her demonic rage come to the surface. You would never assume she had those tendencies with such an angelic appearance. The white hair especially.

“Why? Are you going to  _ cry _ ?” The kid taunted, causing some kids to laugh behind him. Some of the kids moved to surround her so she couldn’t get away. “Are you going to cry like a little baby?” He shook his head. “First grade is for big kids, not babies. Maybe you just need to go home to your ‘mommy’ and your ‘daddy’.” The kid put both mommy and daddy in air quotes as an extra hit to her. “They probably aren’t even your real parents. You know that right?”

The rage was reaching a boiling point and her golden eyes went slitted. “I’m going to warn you to stop.” She was trying to give them a chance. 

“What are you going to do?” The boy asked. “It is all of us,” he gestured around to his little gang, “against one of you.” He shoved her shoulder. “You can’t take us.” He smiled, shoving her again. Another one of the kids in his group shoved her as well. “We  _ own  _ you right now. You can’t fight us all.”

Basil couldn’t contain the side of her anymore, as she was upset that they were saying things about her parents. She began to punch the kids over and over. Once she’d made her rounds, she zeroed in on the ring leader. Her powers were on full blast, holding the other children back so they couldn’t mess with her while she did a number on the ring leader’s face. She was so busy punching and kicking him that she didn’t even notice the teacher come up to them. 

“Miss Fell-Crowley!” the teacher exclaimed. “I am shocked at you. I expect better behavior out of you than this!” 

Basil growled a little bit at the teacher, not recognizing her at first. “They need to be punished! They said awful things!” She was still angry and shaking. 

“That is not an excuse to hit people,” the teacher said firmly. “Come now, we are going to go talk to the principal and call your parents. This kind of behavior is unacceptable.”

Basil was beginning to calm down as she was being gently taken to the office. The realization of everything hit her as she began to cry. “I want my mommy!” 

“We will be calling your parents,” the teacher said. “They’ll be here soon.” She turned to the secretary and explained what had happened and they were shown to the principal’s office. The teacher did a quick run-down of what she’d seen before the principal dismissed her. The principal picked up her phone and found Mr. Aziraphale Fell-Crowley’s number and dialed. 

“Hello,” she said sweetly. “This is Miss Morrison, your daughter’s principal.”

“Aziraphale answered immediately. “Um . . . hello there, this is Mr. Fell-Crowley.” 

“Hi, yeah, I have your daughter here in my office. There was an  _ incident  _ on the playground today that I would like you to come to discuss with us.” 

Aziraphale was instantly worried and motioned for Crowley to come over. “Oh no. Is she alright? Please tell me she’s alright!” 

“She’s just fine,” Miss Morrison said, ignoring the fact that Basil was currently crying. “She’s the one who caused the problem, you see. That’s why I need you here. To get on the same page.” 

Aziraphale grabbed his coat. “Crowley, we need to go pick up Basil. We can just get Florian as well. Oh my baby!” He was jittery with his anxiety.

Crowley tentatively grabbed his jacket as well. “Why? What’s happened?” He asked. 

“Apparently Basil caused an incident!” He was running out the door to the Bentley. 

Crowley furrowed his eyebrows. “It doesn’t sound like her to  _ start  _ something,” Crowley mused. “Finish, maybe. But she wouldn’t start it. Did they happen to tell you exactly what happened?” 

“No. I think there is more to this story.” Aziraphale got into the car and was anxious to just get there. He needed to hug his baby girl.

Once they arrived at the school, they were escorted into the principal’s office. Crowley crossed his arms and locked a glare on the principal, certain that she was about to pull some bullshit. 

“It is so nice that both of you came in,” Miss Morrison said. “Mrs. Wild caught Basil punching Ryan Vessel. I know we cannot excuse this kind of behavior, so-” 

“Basil, what happened?” Crowley asked, knowing that the principal was going to be biased against his daughter. He wanted the story from her perspective before he decided who was in the wrong. 

“I just told you-” Crowley glared at her again, shutting her up. 

“What happened, sweetie?” 

“They wouldn’t play with me because I have two daddies! I have a mommy and a daddy!” She ran into Aziraphale’s arms and he scooped her up. 

“Oh, my dove, it’s alright, shhh, it’s alright my love.” He kissed her soft white hair swaying with her, shooting a glare himself. 

“Well, that’s still no reason to hit-”

“So those children are allowed to be absolutely terrible to our daughter?” 

“Well no but-”

“And he pushed me and took my ball!” Basil wailed. Crowley set his jaw and looked to Miss Morrison. 

“Did you even  _ bother  _ to ask  _ her  _ what happened or did you just  _ assume  _ that she was in the wrong?” Crowley asked. It was a pointed question because he already knew what the answer was about to be. 

Aziraphale was rocking their baby girl. “Crowley, she’s been through enough today. Let’s just take her home, please.” He begged as his little girl cried in his arms. 

“Yeah, I think we’ll do just that,” Crowley said, with one last glare at Miss Morrison. 

“But her behavior-”

“We will address it as we,  _ as her parents _ , see fit,” Crowley said, “and I expect you to follow by our example. Now, we are taking her home because she has been through enough for one day, and if you try to stop us, you will be sorry.” 

The principal just nodded as she let them take the little girl home. Aziraphale did not let her out of his arms while they went to pick up Florian.

“What happened?” Florian asked as soon as he saw the state his sister was in. 

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” Crowley said. “Me and your mother have it taken care of.” 

Aziraphale sat on a bench with Basil since they wanted to be calm before they drove home. “Darling. Darling, let mommy see your eyes.” He gently brushed her hair away. 

Basil, knowing what her eyes did when she got emotional, closed her eyes and turned her face away. “They’re ugly eyes,” she said. “Why can’t I have normal eyes like everyone else?” 

“Darling, they are normal. You just get emotional and they go slitted.” He gently kissed her cheek and encouraged her to look at him. 

Crowley sat down beside Aziraphale, Florian in his lap. “Look at my eyes, dear,” Crowley said. He took off his sunglasses to show off his serpentine eyes. “We match, see? Nothing wrong with your eyes.” Basil turned to look at her father’s eyes. Of course, she’d known about his eyes, he was her dad. She looked up at Aziraphale. 

“Why am I so different?” Basil asked. “Why do you and Daddy have to be boys? I just want to be like everyone else.” 

Aziraphale felt his heart break before he spoke. “Do you want mommy to be a woman?” He could change his form, of course, but he loved being in this form. It was the form Crowley preferred as well. 

“No, no,” Crowley said. “We aren’t going to teach her that.” He scooted to be a little bit closer to Basil. “Everyone is different in their own fun ways. We have our eyes. How many other people have you seen with our eyes? They’re cool!” Crowley said. “Not very many little girls are lucky enough to have  _ two  _ boy parents.” Crowley smiled at her. “I understand why you want to be ‘normal.’ But sweetheart, normal isn’t good. If you’re just like everyone else, there’s no one who’s going to be you. I love you just the way you are. You’ll find your friends someday. It may not be tomorrow, but you’ll find them someday. Friends who don’t make fun of you for being different.”

Basil wiped her eyes and slowly turned to hug her mommy. “I’m sorry, Mommy. I didn’t mean what I said.” 

Aziraphale pulled her back onto his lap. “I forgive you, sweetness. We aren’t angry with you, my dove.” 

“How about ice cream?” Crowley asked softly. “Does that sound good?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Florian said, hugging Crowley around his neck. “Please Mommy?”

Basil buried her head into Aziraphale’s neck, nodding. “Alright, my dears, let’s get ice cream.” 

Crowley carried Florian all the way back to the car while Aziraphale carried Basil. They put the two of them in their seats before getting into the car and driving off towards the nearest ice cream shop. 

Crowley hated what his daughter had gone through, and part of him felt guilty. It wasn’t her fault that she’d been born into the family that she’d been born into, yet all of the kids at school treated her as if she had somehow caused it. He gripped the steering wheel tighter. Once they’d had their ice cream, they headed home for the day.

Aziraphale leaned over to kiss Crowley’s cheek, whispering something of sweet words to him so he would relax. 

Crowley sighed into the angel’s touch. “I’m sorry, I just . . .” he shook his head. “I fucking hate how they treated her. The kids like she’s some sort of space alien and the principal like she’s some sort of criminal.” 

“Darling, remember, Jesus was treated horribly by the people who were supposed to be on his side. People are just not very kind, but we have a loving home to give. And she has you.” He kissed him again, which made the children giggle sweetly.


	4. My Love

After the day’s tedious events, the children were asleep. A tired Aziraphale retreated to the bedroom, where he undid his bowtie with a sigh. He rubbed his face and began to undo the waistcoat and placed his watch in his jewelry box. He then went over to the bathroom hanger to put on his nice silk pajamas that felt like clouds. He went to lay on the bed, sighing deeply. Crowley hadn’t come in just yet. He hoped he would soon because he was in need of come comfort. 

Crowley opened the bedroom door and smiled at his angel laying in bed. “Time for bed so soon?” He asked with a smile playing on his lips. He knew the day had been long, but it was still fairly early for the angel to be calling it a day. He snapped his fingers, putting himself into his own pajamas before joining Aziraphale in the bed. He wrapped his arms around Aziraphale and kissed his temple. 

Aziraphale giggled against him. “Perhaps I was just waiting for you. I thought you handled today excellently, my dear. You’ll always come to your children’s aid. It’s very attractive.” 

Crowley smiled. “Now, angel, of course I help them. I signed up to be their guardian when we decided to try and get pregnant with Basil. They’re still pretty helpless without us there to guide them. But if you think it’s attractive, that’s all the more reason to do it.” He wiggled his eyebrows at the angel.

Aziraphale wrapped his arms around him. “Yes, um . . . speaking of children, my dear,” he blushed dark red. 

“Oh did we do it?” Crowley asked, unable to hide his excitement. “I told you, I’ve got powerful swimmers. One and done.” He kissed Aziraphale. 

“No, no. Not yet dear. We need to keep that activity up.” He chuckled hoping Crowley would get the hint.

“Ah,” Crowley said. “Well, that’s both disappointing and a good thing,” he said. “Disappointing that we aren’t expecting, but a good thing because I get to keep pleasuring the hell out of you,” He nuzzled closer to the angel, “with the excuse of our next child.”

“I want another baby terribly, Crowley. My body is craving to be pregnant again. Is that silly of me?” Besides, from what he used to do, being a mother felt like the most fulfilling job in the world. Plus, he didn’t have to answer to a jerk boss at all.

“I don’t see it as silly,” Crowley said. “You just have this glow about you when you’re pregnant. You seem like you’re the happiest you could possibly be when you’re with child. ‘Sides, I want another baby just as much as you do.” Crowley smiled. “You do a fantastic job with them. Just look at how adorable the ones we’ve got are.” 

“They’re so wonderful. And I’m so proud of Basil for standing up for what she thought was right. Yes, she could have gone without the violence, but she did nothing wrong. Humans are so weird about gender.” He kissed along Crowley’s neck to change the subject. 

Crowley hummed his approval “She did do a good job, didn’t she?” He smiled and pulled the angel’s face towards his and giving him a lingering kiss on the lips.

Aziraphale kissed him back, letting his hands roam all over the demon’s body. He was practically in Crowley’s lap now.

Crowley smiled lovingly to his angel. “You just . . . do things to me,” Crowley murmured. “Wonderful, wonderful things.” He encouraged the angel to fully sit in his lap. 

Aziraphale gently cupped Crowley’s cheek. “I love you so much my dear. He leaned back in to deepen the kisses.

“I love you too, my dove,” Crowley whispered between kisses. He closed his eyes and brought his hands into the angel’s hair. Lord, how he loved that hair. 

It didn’t take long before their nighttime routine turned into that of discarded pajamas on the floor and movements of dance-like motions under their nice sheets. Their love was so deep and pure nothing could stop them. It was why they wanted another child. To reflect the love that they shared so deeply. 

Crowley continued to whisper sweet nothings into Aziraphale’s ear, gently kissing him every moment he could. Simply having the angel in his arms had to be one of life’s greatest pleasures. He smiled over to the angel. “Do you think that did it?” 

Aziraphale looked over to him in an afterglow. “I do hope so. It’s taken longer than usual.” He frowned nervously. 

“I’m sure that it’s probably nothing,” Crowley said. “We’re ready and readily inviting the little one. They’ll pop up soon enough.” He placed his hand on Aziraphale’s belly, for a moment imagining what it would be like to have a third child. He smiled over to the angel. 

“I’m serious, Crowley. What if we don’t get to have another?” Aziraphale looked on the verge of tears and turned to lay away from his husband. 

“Well, it’d be mighty disappointing, sure,” Crowley said, “but we already have two really incredible kids.” He wrapped his arms around the angel and rested his chin on the angel’s head. “But we’ll get there,” Crowley said. “This year, next year, or a hundred years from now. We’ll get our next baby.” 

Aziraphale leaned into the touch, sighing heavily. He tried not to let his anxiety bother him. He would be crushed if tonight’s effort didn’t produce a pregnancy. 

“Really, though, angel, sometimes it just takes time. It takes humans time too. Months and years even. We’ve just got to get it at the right time.” He kissed the angel’s temple. “But we’ve already had two, so that shows you’re capable of having them. At least we have that assurance.”

Aziraphale nodded and he kissed Crowley’s cheek, snuggling against him. “Let’s just stay like this. I want to be against your skin for the night.” 

“More than ok with me,” Crowley said. “God, you’re gorgeous.” Crowley allowed his eyes to wander down the angel’s body before bringing them back up to Aziraphale’s eyes. “Most beautiful being I’ve ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. And I’ve laid my eyes on  _ a lot _ of pretty people in my days.” 

Aziraphale was beaming after the compliment. “You are magnificent, my love. Every inch of you. I’m in awe that I get to call you mine. Considering I’m rather soft and overweight to most.” 

“Well, you are soft. Perhaps even a bit overweight, but those aren’t bad things,” Crowley said. “It makes you all the more beautiful because there’s all the more of you here to hold.” Crowley ran his finger along one of Aziraphale’s stretch marks. 

“You’ll be alright if there’s more of those from another baby, right my dear?” He studied his husband’s face gently. 

“All that matters to me is happiness,” Crowley said. “And another baby is going to make you- make both of us- happy. So no, of course I won’t mind. Besides, some of these are like tiger stripes. Showing off what you’ve put your body through to bring children into the world. Crowley placed his palm on a cluster of the marks. “ _ Our _ children.” He placed a kiss on the angel’s lips. “You could be nothing but stretch marks and I wouldn’t feel any different about you.”

“And you’re really ok with another child?” He had to ask again. 

“Angel, I’m the one with the means to let you make another child. I wouldn’t be throwing it at you with as much enthusiasm as I have been if I didn’t want another baby.” 

Aziraphale smiled again, feeling sleep beginning to claim him. “I think it’s time we slept, don’t you, my love?” 

Crowley let out a yawn he’d been suppressing to show his agreement. The two further settled into bed and closed their eyes, falling asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. Little did they know that the work of creation was finally at play in their favor.


	5. Shop till you Drop

Basil woke up incredibly excited for the day. Aziraphale had told her the night before that they would be going dress shopping for the daddy/daughter dance that was coming up. She hopped out of bed and headed to her closet because she wanted to pick out the  _ perfect  _ outfit for shopping about in.

Aziraphale picked out his usual outfit that he loved. He just hoped his daughter wouldn’t approve of his style or lack of sometimes.

"Mama!" Basil said, banging on the bedroom door after getting herself dressed. "Hurry! We have to go get my dress!"

“Alright, my dear girl. Your dance isn’t for another few days. We have time” he chuckled, freshening up his hair and grabbing his purse.

"I know," she said, "but I just want to get the bestest one and I can't if everyone has taken all the dresses." She said this as if she actually believed that the store would run out of dresses. "I think I should get a blue one . . . no, pink." She shook her head. "How am I ever going to pick when there are so many good colors?"

“Well my love that’s why I’m going to help you. We can decide together. Now come on, your father is going to drop us off at the mall.” Aziraphale, in all his years, still never learned to drive. 

Basil darted down the stairs and grabbed hold of Crowley's legs and smiled up at him. "You can't go in," she said. "It has to be a surprise!" Crowley smiled. 

"Of course, my dear," he said. He smiled up to Aziraphale. "Good morning, my love."

“Oh good morning my love are you ready to drop us off at the mall?” He smiled and kissed Crowley’s cheek.

"Whenever you're ready," Crowley replied. "Florian and I have big plans that we absolutely  _ must  _ attend to." Crowley smiled over to Florian. "Isn't that right?" Florian nodded with a smile. 

"But Mama can't know! It's our secret!' Crowley laughed and shook his head.

“Yes my dear I promise I won’t know.” Aziraphale kissed Florians cheek. Florian smiled triumphantly. 

"Shall we get going then?" Crowley asked. "Give the two of you as much timke as you need to find the perfect dress. Which I'm sure you will."

“Of course, my love.” Aziraphale helped the kids into the car. 

Crowley drove them all to the mall and dropped Aziraphale and Basil off by the doors. "Just call as soon as you're done!" Crowley said. "I love you both!"

Aziraphale blew a kiss “Bye sweeties we will call you when done.”

Basil watched as Crowley drove away before reaching up and grabbing Aziraphale's hand. She started pulling him towards the door. "Come on Mommy! Faster!" 

Aziraphale sighed as he went along with his little girl “Okay, princess, okay.”

As soon as they were inside, Basil's eyes went wide. "Woah," she said. There were so many people everywhere and she suddenly didn't know where she was going. She turned back to Aziraphale. "Where to first?"

“Let’s find the little girl clothing stores baby girl” Aziraphale held her hand protectively. No one would dare come near his baby. 

"Ok!" Basil said, waiting for her mama to lead the way.

Aziraphale found a store and they began to look through the dresses. Of course Aziraphale’s taste was more modest and floral. Not so much sparkly. 

"Mama! Look at this one!" Basil held up a dress with bright colors and more glitter than a disco ball. She held it up to her body. "What do you think?" .

Aziraphale was shocked she liked the sparkles. “Wow, dearest. Do you want to try that on? And a few others.”

Basil nodded very enthusiastically before handing the dress over to Aziraphale so she could continue her hunt for the perfect dress. She was determined to find it. The perfect dress for the perfect night. Aziraphale resigned to hold holding his daughter’s potential dresses. 

Basil was quite the enthusiastic shopper. She picked out all kinds of different dresses. Some were adorned with flowers. Others were what Basil had gotten to calling “princess dresses.” Some had rhinestones and glitter by the mile. By the time she was settled, Aziraphale was carrying twelve or thirteen different dresses. 

Aziraphale felt exhausted suddenly, so he took a seat near the dressing room. He sighed, as he hadn’t realized a dress would be a huge ordeal.

“Daughter getting the best of you?” A man asked as he walked up and sat down beside Aziraphale. 

“Oh, you have no idea. She’s seven and I had no idea little girls could be so particular.” He chuckled. 

“Oh, I remember those days,” the man replied. “I’ve got three of them. All girls. They’re grown up a bit now, but I remember how they were when they were as little as yours is. It only gets worse,” he said with a laugh. “When they get older all they want you for is your wallet.”

“Oh, gracious, I haven’t thought about them growing up.” He got a bit sad. 

The man sighed in sympathy. “I know the feeling man. It happens way too fast.” 

“Mama help!” Basil called from her dressing room.

“Ah, yes, well, lovely speaking with you.” Aziraphale went into the room. “What’s wrong baby?”

“Zipper!” She said. She spun around trying to reach it. “I can’t get it!”

“Alright, my love.” He carefully zipped her up. “How do we feel?” 

Basil looked at herself in the mirror. She smoothed down the skirt and did a twirl. She looked back at herself and back up at Aziraphale. “I don’t know,” she said. “It’s pretty. But I don’t know if I like it.” She did another twirl. “Hmm . . .” She shook her head. “What do you think, Mommy?” 

“Why don’t we try another one, beautiful?” He asked her, handing her a dress. 

Basil nodded. “Ok, Mommy!” She kicked Azirpahale out of the room and tried on the new dress. 

Slowly but surely, she made her way through the pile of dresses that she’d picked out. None of them felt like they were the perfect dress. She sighed in disappointment when she showed Aziraphale the one she had on.

“They’re all nice,” she said, “but I don’t like them enough. I’m never going to find the perfect dress! What am I gonna tell Daddy? If I can’t find a dress, we can’t go to the dance!”

Aziraphale had the dress she had originally picked out. It was the last one. It couldn’t hurt. “Here, sweetheart.” 

Basil took the dress with a smile. Perhaps this one would be the one. She took it to the dressing room and changed into it. She admired herself in the mirror and nodded. This one was it. She crept out and hid around the corner from Aziraphale. “Are you ready, Mama?” She asked with enthusiasm. 

“Oh, yes dear.” He was excited to see. After all, it was the one that she picked out at first. 

Basil bounced around the corner and smiled proudly at Aziraphale. “Look at me, Mama!” She said excitedly. She did a twirl and jumped a few times. “Isn’t it pretty?” She ran her hand down the skirt, moving her hips back and forth. It was flowy and perfect for dancing in. 

“Oh, darling! You look divine!” He smiled and looked her over. 

Basil did a slow spin so Aziraphale could get a good look at the dress. “I like it,” she said. He pinched the bottom of the dress and curtsied. “It’s perfect, Mama!”

“Oh! I’m so happy you found your dress!” He kissed her cheek. 

Basil smiled and bounded back to the dressing room to get her regular clothes back on. When she came back, she shoved the dress at Aziraphale. “Now we have to get does and Daddy’s tie!” She said. 

“That’s right!” He went to pay for the dress. They would go to another store for Crowley’s things. 

Basil stood by her mother’s side the whole walk to the next store, jumping with excitement and trying to peep in the bag where her dress was. When they got to the next store, they went straight for the tie section and began looking for a tie that would match. 

“Look at this one,” Basil said with a laugh. It had llamas on it. “Daddy would look so silly with this one.” 

“Oh, you’re going to make your daddy scream, my dear.” He laughed. 

Basil smiled. Then a tie caught her eye. She picked it up. “Look!” She exclaimed. “I think it matches perfectly!”

“Oh you’re going to kill your daddy.” He chuckled at the thought of Crowley wearing a tie with llamas or something bright and colorful.

Basil reached for the bag that had her dress in it. Aziraphale gave it to her. She held the tie to the dress. “Oh, it isn’t exactly right, but it is close!” 

“Yes, I do think Daddy will like that, dear.” 

Basil smiled proudly before shoving both the dress and the tie back at her mother. “It’s perfect then!” She exclaimed. “I think it’s perfect!” 

Aziraphale was smiling at his daughter and then he suddenly found himself retching into the nearest trash bin. 

Basil rushed over to Aziraphale and began patting his back. “What’s wrong, Mama?” Basil asked in alarm. “You never get sick!” 

Aziraphale was catching his breath and he rubbed his head. “Something came over me. I’m sorry, dumpling.”

“Are you ok now?” Basil asked with concern. 

“I do think so.” Aziraphale took out his cell phone and texted Crowley clumsily. 

_ I threw up and am not feeling well. I’m ready to go home. _

_ Is everything alright?  _ Crowley shot immediately back.

_ I don’t know, but I feel very sick.  _ He was trying not to worry Basil, who was holding his hand. 

_ Give me about five minutes and I’ll be on my way.  _

Aziraphale decided to go sit down with Basil, taking a deep breath. 

“Mama? Are you sure you’re ok?” She asked sweetly. “You’re not like this.”

Aziraphale hugged his little girl. “It’s alright, sweet girl. Daddy’s coming to pick us up.” 

“But the tie!” Basil said, pointing to it. “We haven’t bought it yet! And we have to get it! It’s perfect!” 

Aziraphale snapped his fingers and the perfect tie materialized.

Basil stared at it in wonder. “Wow,” she said. She grabbed it from Aziraphale. “How did you do that?” She’d already completely forgotten about the tie she’d picked out. This one was better anyway.

“I’ll teach you another time, my love. Let’s just wait.” 

“Ok!” Basil said, still entrapped in how wonderful the tie was. She was swinging her legs. A few minutes later, Crowley pulled up and the two of them got in to head home.


	6. The other half of that Day

After dropping Aziraphale and Basil off at the mall for their little day of shopping, Crowley headed to the grocery store. He’d previously decided that he and Florian were going to bake cupcakes together to surprise Aziraphale and Basil. He liked baking, and he figured it would be a good learning experience for Florian. He browsed the aisles, picking up the ingredients that he knew that they would need. When it came to the decorations and frosting, however, he allowed Florian to pick them out. He wanted Florian to feel included in the process.

Florian giggled as he picked up all kinds of frosting, as he had a deep love of food just like his mama. “I like this! And I like this one! Oh and these sprinkles!” 

Crowley laughed as Florian picked up way more than they were going to use for the day. “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” 

“I am! I always like spending time with you, Daddy.” He said as sweetly as he possibly could. 

Crowley felt his heart melt. That seemed to happen a lot nowadays, especially concerning the children. Once Florian was satisfied with all of the frostings and decorations, he headed up to the counter to pay and carried the groceries out to the car. He got Florian settled in his seat before getting everything out of the cart and into the trunk of the car.

He smiled back at Florian once they got home. “Are you ready for a fun day?” 

“Yes, Daddy!” He was walking around the kitchen, trying to reach certain items, but he was still short. 

Crowley went to the cupboard to get the little step stool that he and Aziraphale had invested in specifically so the children could help them cook. He set the oven so it would be ready by the time they were ready to get the cupcakes in the oven. He put the stool down so Florian could stand on it. 

“Can you find me a big bowl?” Crowley asked. 

Florian found the big bowl and grunted as he handed it to his daddy. “We gonna make lots of cupcakes.” 

“That we are,” Crowley said. “But before we do anything, we have to wash our hands, ok?” Crowley turned on the water in the sink and demonstrated for him, just to be a good role model. “And now we don’t touch our faces ok?”Crowley kicked the step stool where it needed to be so Florian would be able to reach the water and stepped to the side so Florian could wash his hands. 

Florian washed his hands as Crowley did. He looked up at his tattoo on his sideburns. “Where did you get that from, Daddy?” 

“Hm?” Crowley asked. “Oh, this ole thing?” Crowley asked pointing to it. Florian nodded. “I’ve had it for a  _ very  _ long time. Since before the start of the  _ world _ . Can you imagine that?” 

“When did you meet Mommy?” Florian asked. 

“Right at the start of the world,” Crowley said. “Everything had just started.” Crowley began measuring out the ingredients and handing them to Florian to pour into the bowl. “I had just tempted Eve to have an apple from the forbidden tree, and your mother had just given Adam his sword to protect the two of them from the dangers outside the Garden of Eden.”

“Did you fall in love then?” He asked sweetly with big eyes. 

Crowley smiled at the memory. “Yeah,” he replied. “I think I did.” Crowley looked down to the bowl and smiled. He went to the drawer to get a rubber spatula. “Do you want to do the mixing?” he asked. 

“Yeah!” Florian grabbed the spatula and began to mix it carefully. 

“You’re doing well!” Crowley said. “Make sure you get the sides. Mix it until there’s no powder left, ok?” 

Florian nodded, focusing well on the task at hand. He giggled as he did so. He was such a happy boy. 

A minute or so later, Crowley looked over Florian’s shoulder to check the progress. “Can I have it so I can see if it’s ready?”

“Yeah, Daddy! No licking the bowl!” Florian poked his nose in. 

“Hey! Get your nose out of there!” Crowley said. Florian giggled as he pulled away. Crowley stirred the batter a few times before smiling over to Florian. “It’s ready, bud. You did really well!” Crowley got the cupcake pans out of the cupboard and brought them over. He opened up a package of cupcake liners. “Alright, now we need to line the pans. Just one in each spot, ok?” 

Florian carefully put one liner in each spot. 

Once he was done with that, Crowley put the batter into the pan and popped the pan into the oven for ten minutes. He then showed Florian how to help clean up.

After the clean-up was done, Florian was staring in front of the oven as if that was going to make the cupcakes bake faster. 

“A watched pot never boils,” Crowley said with a smile. “It’ll only seem like it’s going to take longer if you sit there and watch it.” He turned the oven light on anyway to amuse his child. 

“Can we go watch cartoons together while we wait?” He asked, going to pull on Crowley’s hand. 

“Of course, my dear,” Crowley said, allowing himself to be dragged to the living room. “Which one do you want to watch?” He started the hunt for the remote, a fight that always happened any time they tried to watch TV. Mostly because no one would listen to Aziraphale about keeping the remote in a specific place when it wasn’t in use. He found the remote and looked down at Florian.

“Any one of them!” He giggled and went to climb on their very comfy couch and folded his hands nicely in his lap. 

Crowley put on the show that he could tolerate the most before joining his son on the couch. A few minutes later, the oven went off so they went out to check the cupcakes. Crowley put a toothpick in them to check them and it came back clean. “Alright, now we just have to wait for them to cool off before we decorate them, alright?” Crowley said. 

“Ok, Daddy!” He was a bit zoned out to the TV at the moment, but he was excited to decorate the desserts for his mama. 

Every few minutes, Crowley would go back out to check on the cupcakes to see if they were cooled off enough to frost yet. When he felt they were ready, he called Florian and told him to go sit down at the table while he gathered all the supplies that Florian had picked out. 

Florian ran over and was excited to finally do the fun part of decorating the cupcakes. The kid really loved his sprinkles and it was evident on the cupcakes he decorated.

“Oh my, those cakes are going to be crunchy!” Crowley said with a laugh, taking his time on the one he was currently working on. He didn’t like to admit it, but he had a soft spot for baking and decorating. Especially since the angel liked baked goods so much. He smiled down at his cupcake, satisfied with his work. “You’re doing such a good job! Yours are mighty colorful!” 

Florian was really soaking up this one-on-one time with his daddy. Once all the cupcakes were finished, Crowley got a text message from Aziraphale. 

_ I threw up and am not feeling well. I’m ready to go home. _

_ Is everything alright?  _ Crowley shot immediately back.

The angel being sick? That was quite strange. Quite worrisome too. He looked around at the mess that he and Florian had made (mostly Florian) with frosting and sprinkles everywhere. This is  _ not  _ what he wanted the angel to come home to.

_ Give me about five minutes and I’ll be on my way.  _

“Alright, Florian, we have to clean up really really fast and we have to go get Mama and Basil, alright?” Crowley asked. “Are you ready to get this done as quickly as we can?” 

Florian nodded. Noticing the worried look on his daddy’s face, he asked, “What’s wrong?” He was helping to clean up. 

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Crowley said. “I’m sure everything is fine. Can you get all the containers and throw them in the trash while I get the sprinkles swept up?”

Florian nodded again, doing exactly as Crowley said to do, and quick. Crowley quickly got the sprinkles swept up and the frosting mess off the table and wall (how had Florian managed to get it on the wall?). Afterward, he rushed the two of them out to the Bentley and got to the mall we quickly as he could. 

Florian was anxious in his little car seat. “You’re driving fast, Daddy.” He twiddled his thumbs.

“I like it fast,” Crowley replied as a way to try and soothe his son.  _ It’s probably nothing. Aziraphale is fine _ . But he couldn’t hush the part of his brain that said that things were  _ not  _ fine. He drove around until he saw where Aziraphale and Basil were sitting outside the mall. He stopped the car so they could get in. 

Aziraphale got into the front seat looking rather pale. He let Basil hang onto their bag with the dress and the tie for Crowley. 

“How was shopping today?” Crowley asked Basil, though his eyes were on Aziraphale, trying to sense any change that might lead to him throwing up again. “Did you get everything you needed?” He wanted to distract their children from the fact that their mom wasn’t feeling well. There was no need to worry them.  _ Everything is fine.  _

“We found my dress, Daddy! And a tie to match me!” She giggled and smiled at him. Aziraphale rubbed his face and sighed heavily. 

“Do you need me to pull over?” Crowley murmured, hoping only Aziraphale would hear.

Aziraphale miracled a bag up, just in case. “I have this, my dear. Let’s try to get home.” 

Crowley nodded and pressed his foot against the gas a little bit harder, urging all the cars in his way to get out of the way so they could easily get home. If it was bad enough that the angel had a bag, it was getting pretty bad. 

Aziraphale had leaned into Crowley’s arm and sighed again. It was obvious the angel was searching for some comfort. 

“We’ll be there soon,” Crowley murmured. He took his hand off the wheel for a moment to brush through the angel’s hair. He did not, however, take his eyes off the road, knowing how much that scared the angel when he did. “Just hold off a little bit longer.”

Aziraphale pulled away and did, in fact, heave into the bag. Luckily, the kids were both out cold in the back after their busy days. 

Crowley pulled over so he could give the angel his full attention. He rubbed the angel’s back, wishing there was something else that he could do to help settle the angel’s stomach.

“I don’t understand!” He cried quietly as he finished throwing up. 

Crowley put up an invisible wall between them and the kids so they wouldn’t risk hearing any of the conversation. “Shh, I know,” Crowley said. He wrapped his arms around the angel. “I don’t understand either. We’ll be home soon, though. I’ll put a show on for the kids and we can go to the bedroom to figure out the issue while they’re distracted.” 

“Please, my darling, I’m scared.” He whispered, going right back into Crowley’s arms with a sniffle. 

“And you have every right to be,” Crowley said, squeezing the angel before running his hands up and down the angel’s arms and back. “Can you take a deep breath? Calm down for a bit, just until we get home. I don’t want to worry the kids until we figure out what’s wrong. I’d rather not worry them at all, but . . .” Crowley didn’t even want to think it. He didn’t want there to be a real issue at play, but he couldn’t deny the possibility. He squeezed the angel again. “We’ll get through this, whatever this is, we’ll figure it out.” 

Aziraphale took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes. He was focused on getting home and into his soft bed.    
  


“Just two more minutes, ok? I’ll get the kids settled with a show or something and then I’ll come to you.” Crowley carefully pulled on to the road and headed straight for the house. 


	7. Children are a blessing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all get a bonus chapter!

When they got to the house, Crowley grabbed the kids and carried them both to the house, since they were both still sleeping. Basil stirred in his arms and looked up at him. 

“Oh, hi, Daddy,” she said sleepily. 

“Hi, baby,” Crowley murmured, placing a kiss on her head. Basil’s eyes blinked closed again. If the kids were sleeping that would be even better for figuring out whatever was going on with Aziraphale. No chance for them to walk in on them and start worrying all over again. He snapped his fingers to get their shoes off of them once they were inside, not wanting to bother with trying to get them off on his own, and he didn’t want to bother Aziraphale with asking for help. 

He gently put the kids into their respective beds and tucked them in. He closed the doors of their bedrooms as he left their rooms before he headed to his own bedroom, where Aziraphale already had himself tucked himself into bed. 

Aziraphale had his little bag close to the bedside as he groaned in discomfort. “I don’t understand. I didn’t eat anything bad today. I’m not ill. I’m confused.” He sighed into the blankets and reached for Crowley. 

Crowley crawled into bed, miracling away the bag and replacing it with a bucket as he did so. He curled up against the angel. 

“I know, my love. I wish I had the answer too.” Crowley searched his brain for anything it might be. A light bulb went off in his mind. “Have you been feeling any  _ different  _ lately?” He asked. “Before today. And I mean  _ different  _ different.”

“I mean . . . maybe just a bit tired, but nothing odd!” He sat up before he felt sick again. 

Crowley rubbed the angel’s back. “Tired,” Crowley mused. “I mean . . . we have been trying for a third baby,” Crowley said. “Do you think that maybe that could be it?” 

Aziraphale lit up. “Oh. . . oh my goodness could it be? Did we finally do it?” He was hopeful. 

“It’s your body, my love,” Crowley said. “You’re the expert there. I’m just throwing out ideas.” 

“Miracle up a test,” Aziraphale asked without any hesitation. 

Crowley did as was asked of him and handed the test over to Aziraphale. “This could really be it, couldn’t it?” He asked, unable to hide the excitement in his voice. “We really . . . baby three could really be there.” 

Aziraphale hugged Crowley before he went into the bathroom. After two children, he knew the drill. 

Crowley stood up and waited outside the door. He didn’t want to just sit in the bed. This was  _ exciting _ . Something they’d been wanting for a while and were finally making the moves to make happen. He paced the room while he waited for Aziraphale.

Aziraphale came out with tears in his eyes just simply nodding. The test was positive.

"Oh . . . Oh my  _ someone _ ." Crowley rushed to bring Aziraphale into his arms, lifting him and spinning him around. "We're going to have another baby." He put the angel down and kissed him. "Oh, this is  _ fantastic _ news."

Aziraphale melted into the kiss and cried into his neck he was so overjoyed.

"We're really having another baby," Crowley mused. He put his hand on Aziraphale's belly. "There's . . . You're," Crowley shook his head. He looked to Aziraphale, tears brimming his eyes. "We're having a  _ baby _ ."

Aziraphale continued to cry and he held onto his husband “I’m so happy.”

"I suppose that explains the . . ." Crowley gestured to the side of the bed. "Nothing to be worried about at all." He felt the relief washing through his body. 

Aziraphale held onto Crowley trembling from the news but also from being sick. Crowley noticed this change and led them to the bed. He smiled at the angel.

"I don't think I could be happier today than I am right now," Crowley said. "Nothing could tear me down now."

Aziraphale smiled as he threaded his hands through Crowley’s “Oh my love.”

Crowley brought Aziraphale's hand to his lips and kissed it. "Another gorgeous being to be brought into the world by the greatest mother." He kissed the angel's temple. 

Aziraphale was now emotional. His husband spoke the sweetest words he would ever hear. “And they’ll have the greatest father.”

"And the greatest older brother and sister," Crowley added, wrapping an arm around the angel's shoulder. He just needed to be close to the angel in this moment of pure bliss.

Aziraphale felt nauseated “Oh no.”

"What's wrong, angel?" Crowley immediately asked. "Feeling sick again?"

“Yes, bucket please, my dear!”

Crowley reached for it and handed it to the angel, feeling slightly guilty about the whole thing, despite himself. 

Aziraphale retched into the bucket with a whimper.

"Aw, angel," Crowley said, squeezing the angel's arm. "I do hate this bit of the whole thing, I must admit." He kissed the angel's temple and ran his fingers through the angel's curls. "Is there anything I can do to make it better? Anything besides just sitting here?"

Aziraphale finished retching “No, my love, I think that just you being here is good."

"Alright, angel," Crowley said, though he wished he felt more useful.

Aziraphale leaned back against the bed he really needed to rest. Crowley pulled the angel into his arms. "This sucks," Crowley murmured. "But at the end of it, we'll have a new baby." He was trying to repeat the fact to make it seem more real. They heard a knock at the door.

"Mama?" Came Basil's voice. "Daddy?"

“Oh dear, the children. Go on, Crowley. I’ll be alright” Aziraphale sighed. 

Crowley kissed Aziraphale's temple before getting up to see what Basil wanted. "Hi sweetie," Crowley said. "What's this?" Basil handed him the glass of water she was carrying. 

"I brought it for Mama," she said. 

"How sweet of you," Crowley said. "I'll take it to him and be right back out."

"Is he ok?" Crowley smiled. 

"He's perfect," Crowley said. "Just a little under the weather. That's all.." Crowley turned to take the glass in for Aziraphale.

Aziraphale smiled at his beautiful children. He wanted to tell them “Crowley, dear. Should we share?”

"We could if you want to," Crowley said. "It would give Basil peace of mind since she actually saw you throw up. Let her know things are fine."

“What is it, Mommy and Daddy? Is something wrong?” Basil was about to cry, Florian seemed to be in the same state. 

"Do you want to do the honors or shall I?" Crowley asked.

“I’m afraid I might throw up if I speak too much,” he whimpered then laughed, pulling the children close to comfort them. Soon he would have his arms full of three babies.

"Nothing is wrong with your mama," Crowley said, placing a kiss on each of the children's heads. "In fact, we have some good news." Crowley smiled. "How would the two of you feel about a new baby brother or sister?"

Basil suddenly gasped and smiled at Florian. “You mean like a baby sister? Like with us?”

"Your mama is pregnant!" Crowley said happily. "So yes, there will be a new baby soon."

Both Florian and Basil started screeching and laughing “Yay! A new baby! We can play with them!”

“If it’s a girl we can be best friends!” Basil giggled.

"That's very true," Crowley said with a grin. Crowley put his hand on Aziraphale's belly. "That's why Mama got sick today. Babies can just do that sometimes. So your mama is ok."

“I don’t want the baby to make him sick.” Florian crowned cuddling his arm.

"It'll be alright," Crowley said. "It'll pass." Crowley smiled over to Aziraphale. "And now that we know what it is, we can start figuring out how to deal with it."

“How long do we wait!?” Basil asked.

"I can't say for sure," Crowley said, "every pregnancy is different, but it's ok. Your mama has done this before." He kissed Aziraphale's temple. "He can get through it again."

Aziraphale smiled and nuzzled with Crowley. “Mmm, I love you.”

"I love you too," Crowley said. He opened his arms up so he could attempt to have his entire family wrapped up in his arms. Aziraphale hummed happily savoring the love between them.

"How about a movie in Mommy and Daddy's room?" Crowley asked. "Does a movie sound good?"

“Yes! We will be quiet so mommy can rest.”

"I knew you would be," Crowley said. He grabbed the remote and put on a movie he knew that both children would love. Basil settled against Aziraphale and Florian settled against Crowley. Crowley smiled at his family. His perfect family.

Aziraphale had his hand over where their third baby was growing and he kissed Crowley’s cheek before sleep began to consume him. 

Eventually, Crowley was the last one awake, so he turned the TV off and snapped his fingers so the light would go out as well. 

"Sweet dreams, my loves," Crowley murmured before falling asleep himself. 


	8. Attack of the Hormones?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update today! I (kaythejay, who does the posting) had to work early this morning and it slipped my mind. So here's the next update for you!

A few days later, Crowley had made breakfast for the family. Eggs and bacon for the little ones, a smoothie for Aziraphale (poor dear hadn’t been able to keep much else down). The kids were at the table, munching away at their food. Aziraphale and Crowley were standing in the kitchen simply watching them. 

“Are you feeling alright this morning?” Crowley asked.

Aziraphale had a fluffy robe wrapped around himself as he was gently working on the smoothie. “I hope I can get a good nap in today. How many weeks do you think we are, dear?”

Crowley shrugged. “We did it so many times it’s hard to know for sure at this point. I suppose a few weeks at least because of your symptoms and the fact that the test was able to detect it.” 

Aziraphale nodded. “Makes sense, my dear. This does taste good. I don’t want it to come back up. I would find it as an insult to you.” He walked over to gain a hug from his husband.

Crowley wrapped his arms around the angel. “It’s not insulting,” Crowley assured. “Little one is just learning about the world.” He placed his hand on Aziraphale’s belly. “That’s alright. We can be patient while they do that.” He kissed the angel’s temple. 

Aziraphale purred against Crowley as he breathed in his scent. “I’m sorry I’m more clingy when I’m pregnant, but you already knew that, dear.” 

Crowley smiled. “I love being close to you anyway, angel,” Crowley said. “That’s why I agreed to marry you and let you carry my children to begin with.” He closed his eyes. “And if being pregnant is what makes you stay right here,” Crowley murmured it so there was no chance of the children overhearing, “I’ll make sure you stay that way.” He kissed the angel before pulling away. 

Aziraphale chuckled and smiled bashfully. He and Crowley had decided long ago that they wanted a big family, but since they had eternity, they weren’t in a rush to just pop them all out right after the other. “I love you, my Anthony. My wiley serpent.” 

“And I love you, my beautiful angel.”

Aziraphale leaned up to kiss him very softly. Crowley smiled as he leaned into the kiss. 

“Daddy, I’m done!” Florian said proudly. “Look!” Crowley reluctantly pulled away from Aziraphale to give his son attention. Florian handed Crowley his plate. 

“Oh, look at that! You did!” Crowley said. “Can you rinse your plate off for me?” Crowley asked. Florian nodded enthusiastically and headed for the sink, pulling the step stool up beside it.

Aziraphale ran his hand through Florian’s fluffy red curls. “Such a good boy with polite manners.” 

“Daddy taught me the other day! While you and Basil were at the mall!” He said proudly. “I helped him a lot!”

“Oh so lovely my dear.” Aziraphale kissed his head and helped him down once he was finished. “My darling boy.” 

Florian smiled proudly up to his mother. A look of puzzlement crossed his face and he looked to Aziraphale’s belly. He put his hand there. 

“What are you doing, my dove?” He chuckled as he looked down at his little boy. 

“Are you sure there’s a baby in there?” Florian asked.

“Yes, Florian. But the baby is still very tiny and Mommy will get bigger as the baby grows. It just takes time.” Aziraphale smiled gently at his son. 

“Did you eat it?” Florian asked in alarm.

“Oh! No, no!” Aziraphale laughed loudly, looking at Crowley. 

Florian furrowed his eyebrows. “But how else could a baby get in your tummy?” He asked. “I can only eat things to put them in my tummy.” He put his ear against Aziraphale’s stomach and shook his head when he didn’t hear whatever he’d been expecting to hear. 

Aziraphale just looked at Crowley to help him before this took an interesting turn. 

Crowley took the cue and squatted down and turned Florian so they could look each other in the eyes. “Well,” Crowley said, “parents do this thing that’s called sex which is-”

Aziraphale gasped and slammed his hand over Crowley’s face. “ _ Crowley! _ Uh . . . ah . . . Florian, what Daddy was saying is that when parents love each other, that love will make a baby, usually in the mommy parent.” 

“But  _ how _ ?” Florian asked. “I love my bears and none of them have had babies!” 

“Because it’s a very, very, very special kind of love, my dear. Can you deal with that answer for now?” He asked, taking Florian’s hands, almost begging him to accept the answer. 

“So when do we get to meet the baby?” Florian asked, deciding that was probably all he was going to get out of his parents at the current second, though he wasn’t actually satisfied with the answer that his parents had given him. Perhaps he would ask his dad later. His dad seemed  _ much  _ more willing to give him the answer.

“In about eight months, dear,” Aziraphale replied happily. 

“Eight  _ months _ ,” Florian groaned. “That’s so far away!”

“Oh, darling, I promise you’ll blink and your new baby brother or sister will be here.” He pulled Florian into a hug. 

Florian blinked once. He blinked again. “Are they here yet? I blinked.”

Aziraphale laughed. “Go play with your sister, love!” He gently pushed him out of the kitchen. 

Florian huffed but complied. Stupid parents and their stupid way of talking and their stupid promises they couldn’t keep. 

Crowley looked over to Aziraphale. “What was that?” 

Aziraphale folded his arms and tapped his foot. “Anthony J. Crowley, you almost told our four-year-old about sex!” 

  
“Yeah? So?” Crowley replied.

“So!? Darling, you could scar him for life!”

“Oh, come on, angel,” Crowley said, “it’s a natural process and people have been doing it quite literally since the beginning. ‘Sides, I thought we agreed to no secrets with our children. When they ask a question, they get an answer.” Crowley shrugged. “Stimulate their curiosity or whatever and fuel their minds with new knowledge.”

Aziraphale snapped his head around. “This isn’t a secret! It’s about preserving his innocence.” 

“Preserving innocence,” Crowley said with a shake of his head. “He’s bound to find out eventually. You can’t just lock him up forever.” 

Aziraphale felt his emotions running. “I’m not trying to lock him up forever! You’re being mean! This isn’t like you!” He ran off to the bedroom. 

“Angel I-” 

“What’s wrong with Mommy?” Basil asked. Crowley looked between his daughter and the bedroom door, trying to decide which to take care of first. He squatted to be eye level with her. 

“Nothing, dear,” Crowley said. “Daddy just screwed up . . . somehow.” Crowley shook his head. “I don’t know how, but I screwed up bad. I’m going to go talk to him and fix it.” 

‘You’re not going to break up are you?” Basil asked. 

“No, nothing like that,” Crowley said. He pulled her in for a hug. “Me and your mommy have been through too much together to give up after a petty fight.” Crowley straightened and headed for the bedroom. He knocked on the door. “Angel?”

Aziraphale was crying into the pillow. “No! Go away!” It was really just the hormones, but Aziraphale was too wrapped up to tell the difference. 

“I think we’re in a little deep for me to walk out on you now,” Crowley said. “Few too many little ones involved, and you’re working on adding another.” Crowley smiled weakly. “Please just let me in.”

Aziraphale snapped the door to unlock as he laid on his side, taking a few deep breaths. 

“Listen, if it means that much to you, I’ll drop it. If he asks again, I’ll reinforce your story of it being a ‘special love’ ok?” He walked over to the angel and wrapped him up in his arms. “I love you.” He felt that the angel needed the reminder.

Aziraphale sniffled. He didn’t really say anything at first, kind of wanting Crowley to grovel for it a bit. 

Crowley sighed. “I don’t get it, but we can have it your way, I suppose. Keeping that from the children, at least for the time being, but we can’t hide it away forever.”

Aziraphale sighed, listening. Still, he wasn’t quite ready to speak yet. 

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” Crowley said.

“I love you,” Aziraphale sounded hurt behind it though. 

“And I love you,” Crowley replied. He squeezed the angel. “Look at us, dealing with the first mood swing of the pregnancy.” He smiled. “Seems I’ve still got it in me,” Crowley joked.

“You do love me, truly, though, right, my dear?” Aziraphale rolled over to face Crowley now. 

“Of course I do,” Crowley replied. “I wouldn’t have agreed to any of this if I didn’t.” Crowley nuzzled against Aziraphale, taking in his scent. “Not to you, not to having Basil, not to having Florian, and definitely not to having whoever this third one is to be.” Crowley placed his hand on Aziraphale’s belly. “I love you  _ all  _ more than anything else in the entire world.”

Aziraphale rewarded him with a big, long kiss and cuddles into his middle with his arms around the demon. “I love you so much. You could have anyone you wanted mister handsome, yet you chose me.” 

“There’s no one else I could possibly want,” Crowley replied. “No one can match your  _ anything. _ ” 

“Oh, darling.” He intertwined their hands together and Aziraphale kissed his knuckles. 

“I gave up lying a long time ago for you,” Crowley reminded him. “And I have never  _ ever  _ lied to you.” Crowley kissed the angel’s cheek. “I love you oh so very much. How’s about we go join those children of ours out in the living room?”

Aziraphale nodded with a blush. “I’m sure they will wonder where we went. How about one more kiss before we do, hm?” 

Crowley smiled. He was more than happy to indulge his angel with anything he wanted. Especially when he had the courage to actually voice what he wanted. Besides, he was pregnant all over again, which called for a little bit of spoiling as well to help him cope with everything that was to come.

With the kiss satisfying Aziraphale, he took Crowley’s hand and went out to the living room where their precious children were playing nicely together. Luckily, neither one of them noticed them join the room again, which gave the parents a chance to just observe the game rather than be asked to participate. As much as they loved playing  _ with  _ their children, sometimes it was fun to simply listen in on their games and see where their creativity took them.

“And now the knight must rescue the prince!” Basil shouted. “Hurry, save him Lord Buttkick before the dragon burns the castle down!”

Aziraphale laughed into his hand, looking at Crowley. “Oh, she’s definitely yours!” 

“Was there ever any doubt?” Crowley asked jokingly. “I can leave if you’d found yourself a partner more worthy to be the father of your children. . . “ He looked over to the angel with a smile. 

“I’m afraid you’ll have to do, my dear.” Aziraphale smiled and winked. 

“That’s a shame,” Crowley said with a smirk. “Couldn’t do better than a demon from Hell could you?” He shook his head. 

“Nope, and I never will, my love.” He pecked his cheek with a happy smirk. 

The rest of the day was spent much in the same way. Sometimes they were watching the games, sometimes the children pulled them in. Crowley, however, made sure that Aziraphale got in the good nap that he’d requested at the very start of the day, making sure the children stayed quiet until the angel was ready to get up and face the world again.

  
  
  



	9. Princess for a night

The day of the father/daughter dance arrived, and Basil was up bright and early, unable to contain her excitement. Aziraphale had made her a hair appointment for the dance, and it would be her first time having her hair professionally done. Of course, Crowley wouldn’t be allowed to see her until the complete transformation was done. 

When they got to the salon, Basil lit up at all the chairs and blow driers going. She was very much a girly girl, which Aziraphale loved because he could indulge in the girly girl things. The stylist went out of her way to make this a big deal for Basil. She washed her hair and scrubbed her scalp. She then let her pick out a magazine, for kids of course, while she worked her magic. 

“Mama! Look!” Basil said. She tried to show Aziraphale the magazine. “Look at all these pretty dresses!”

“Yes, and you have a very pretty dress to wear for this evening. Now try not to fidget so the lady can do your hair.” He smiled and suddenly noticed that a bunch of other ladies were gawking happily at him. He always saw himself in the role of a mother, but humans still saw him as a father taking his daughter to the salon. 

“What did your wife have to do to get you to come in here?” One of the ladies asked, shaking her head. “My husband would  _ never. _ ” She smiled. “And to be so enthused while you’re here. My, my.”

Aziraphale blushed and smiled. “I do believe you’re mistaken, dear. This was my accord. My husband is taking her to her first father-daughter dance this evening.” He figured he might as well be honest. 

“Ah, you’re gay,” the woman responded. “That does quite explain it. A father-daughter dance, how lovely.” She smiled. “How did you chose which one of you was going to get to take her?” She asked out of curiosity.

“Well . . . uh . . . my husband is more of the dancer in the family. I have two left feet.” He chuckled, looking back at his daughter. The stylist was fawning over her angelic white hair. 

“Mama! Look at this one!” Basil held up the magazine again so Aziraphale could see it. “I really like this one!”

“That’s nice, dear,” He chuckled at her excitement. Basil turned back to her magazine.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a child with hair so white!” The stylist commented. “It’s absolutely beautiful.”

“Oh thank you! My mama has white hair too!” She smiled and chuckled. 

Soon enough, Basil had her hair finished and was admiring herself in the mirror. “Wow,” she breathed.

“Oh, my beautiful little girl. You are stunning. Your daddy might just faint when he sees you!” Aziraphale was so excited for her.

Basil reached up to touch her hair, unable to believe that it was hers, but quickly pulled her hands away. She didn't want to risk ruining it. "I love it!" She exclaimed. "Thank you!" She told the stylist. She ran over to her mother and grabbed onto his waist. "Thank you for this, Mama."

Aziraphale hugged and kissed her cheek so her hair wouldn’t get messed up “Of course my dove.”

They walked over to the small counter and Aziraphale paid the stylist for her services. Basil turned to look at her mother. 

"What now?" She asked.

“You want to go home so mommy can do your nails?” Aziraphale constantly painted Crowley’s. He was a pro by now.    
  


“Yes!” Basil said with excitement. “I would love that!” 

“Alright, dear.” 

Basil reached up for her mother’s hand. The two of them walked back home together. They didn’t have to worry about Crowley and Florian because Crowley had taken Florian out for their own fun outing for the day. Basil headed straight for the nail polish drawer, pulling out the silver, glittery polish. 

“This one!” 

“Alright, my love.” Aziraphale began to paint her nails. 

Basil watched in fascination as Azirpahale painted her nails. She loved watching her nails go from plain to glittery. She just loved glitter. Can’t go wrong with the stuff at all. She heard the front door open and shrieked, moving suddenly, causing Aziraphale to mess up.

Aziraphale miracled the mistake away and looked towards the door. 

“Daddy!” Basil shrieked, dashing into her room. “Not yet!” She said, slamming her door. 

Crowley came into the room and put Florian down. “And a warm welcome to you too,” Crowley said with a laugh. He smiled at Aziraphale before giving him a kiss. “How are things?”

“Wonderful, my darling.” Aziraphale chuckled, kissing him back. 

“Has she been like that all day?” He asked. “She’s a bit wild. Going at that rate and she won’t have any energy to dance tonight!” He laughed and shook his head. He looked down and noticed the fingernail polish. “Glitter? Didn’t think that was your thing,” Crowley teased. 

“She asked for it, and she wants her look to be a surprise.” He hugged his husband. 

“I suppose I’d better let you get back to it,” Crowley murmured, “though I wish I could just stand here and hold you forever.” He placed a kiss on the angel’s cheek. “Don’t want her going with half-finished nails.” 

“Don’t worry, we can have each other once tonight’s festivities are through.” 

Crowley let go of the angel and watched him walk into Basil’s bedroom to finish getting her ready for the big dance. 

A few hours later, Crowley was in his own room, putting the finishing touches on his own look. He wanted to look as good as possible because he wanted to match the energy that he knew his daughter was going to be bringing to the table. He didn’t know what her dress looked like yet, but he knew she was going to look amazing in it. 

He wandered out to the living room to wait for his daughter to be ready. She was in her bedroom murmuring things he couldn’t quite pick up. He smiled. Tonight was going to be a good night, he could just feel it. 

Aziraphale had checked her over once before he would send her out for the big reveal. “Are you ready, dear?” 

Basil nodded enthusiastically, clapping her hands. “Daddy’s going to be so surprised!”

“I’ll announce you, sweet girl, wait here.” Aziraphale went outside to the living room.

“Is she ready?” Crowley asked with a smile.

“Yes, my love,” Aziraphale cleared his throat. “May I present, Lady Basil Fell-Crowley.”

Upon hearing her name, Basil squealed before turning the doorknob and leaving the room. She had the best posture she could manage and strutted out to the living room with as much confidence as she could muster. She smiled over to her daddy. Unable to keep her composure, she ran up to him and jumped into his arms. Crowley smiled as he caught her.

“What a magical princess you are!” Crowley said. “Look at that dress! You look so grown up!” Crowley kissed her temple, causing her to giggle. 

“Isn’t it the best!” Basil replied. She held a section of it up to Crowley’s tie. “Look, it even matches perfectly.” 

Crowley smiled. “It certainly does!” 

“Alright, you two, let me take your pictures.” Aziraphale held his phone up, snapping some pictures of them, trying not to be overly emotional. “Oh, you both look darling.”

Crowley was having a hard time keeping his own emotions in check. His little princess was so grown up already. Where had the time gone? It felt as though only yesterday when he met her for the very first time, holding her in his arms as she took in the world for the first time. His eyes burned.  _ No, I can’t cry. I won’t be the dad who cries. I won’t do it. _ He squeezed his little girl as the first tears fell.

Basil could tell her daddy was crying. She smiled and pulled away. “Daddy, it’s ok.” 

Crowley smiled and wiped the tears off his face. “You’re right. It’s more than ok.” Crowley looked down at his little girl. Oh, how she had grown! “It’s perfect.”

“Are you ready to go, Daddy?” she asked softly. 

“Only if you’re ready,” Crowley replied.

“Yes come on daddy!” She dragged him outside. 

"Impatient much, are we, my dear?" Crowley asked with a laugh. "Patience is a virtue, my dear. Suppose you're taking after me then." He crawled into the car and started it up. "How's about some pump-up music?" He asked, shoving a CD in.

“Queen?” She asked. She was so her daddy’s little girl.

"Oh you betcha," Crowley replied. "No better way to get ready for a party." He cranked the volume and smiled back at her before pulling out. 

Basil was giggling like crazy in the back dancing to the music.

" _ Anywhere the wind blows! _ Crowley shouted at the top of his lungs before pointing back to Basil to see if she would take it from there. He was just overall acting a little sillier than he normally would. Tonight was a special night, and he wanted to make certain that his daughter had a good time.

“ _ Doesn’t really matter to meeeeeee!” _ She shouted right back at him. She adored her daddy, and tonight it would be all about her and her daddy.

Crowley pulled up to the high school because the dance was being held in the gym. He parked the car and turned off the music. He turned around to face her. 

"Who's ready for a good time tonight?" 

“Me!” She waved her hand in the air and smiled at him.

The two of them got out of the car and walked into the school, hand in hand, excited for the night’s events. 


	10. The dance

Crowley wasn’t sure of what he’d been expecting the dance to be, but it seemed to be a little bit more . . . low budget than he was expecting. Perhaps he should stop expecting things to happen like the movies. 

The main lights were off, though there were small flashes of color throughout the room. There was a snack table at the back of the room and a song Crowley didn’t recognize was blaring through the speakers. It was almost too loud for him to even think. He smiled and turned to his daughter. 

“What do you think, my love?” he asked her.

Basil was feeling shy. “I’m nervous, Daddy.” 

Crowley smiled and squatted down to her level. “We are going to dance like there is no one else in this room and we are going to have the  _ best  _ night of our lives. You hear me?” He grabbed her hands and started pulling her towards the center of the room. “Now let’s get this party started, shall we?” Crowley began dancing in a very ridiculous way that was more to help ease his daughter’s nerves and make her laugh than anything else. 

Basil laughed and felt her worries melt away as she danced silly with her daddy. 

About half an hour after arriving, Crowley excused himself to go to the bathroom with promises of being right back and insisting that she still continue the “fun bus” while he was gone. However, Basil’s classmates had a different idea. 

“Your dad looks so stupid when he dances like that,” a little girl said, walking up to Basil. She looked Basil up and down and scrunched up her nose. “And your dress . . . it’s a little silly too.” 

Basil teared up, and she suddenly ran to hide. Girls could be so mean sometimes, no matter what age. Basil just felt like that girl had ruined her entire evening. Basil had found a safe place to hide under her wings.

When Crowley came back from the bathroom, he realized that Basil was no longer on the dance floor. He headed to the hallways to see if he could find her. “Basil?” He called. It seemed the hallways were empty. He headed back into the gym to see if she’d found a nook somewhere to hide. He found her under the bleachers. “Basil, sweetheart, what’s happened?” He asked. He crawled towards her and pulled her into his lap. 

Basil was crying as she shook her body away from Crowley. She just wanted to go home at this point. 

Crowley respected her wishes and let go of her. He knew something must have happened between the time that he was in the bathroom in now to get his daughter to act like this. She did not go from her happy self to this puddle of tears for no reason. And he was ready to beat someone. Whoever did this to her. He would take their parent outside and make sure it never happened again. 

“Who?” Crowley asked.

Basil suddenly crawled back into his lap. “I thought I looked pretty tonight, Daddy, and I love my dress. But there was a mean girl,” she cried. 

Crowley squeezed her tightly. “Oh, my love, of course you look pretty in your dress today. I think that little girl might just be jealous that she didn’t get your dress and she doesn’t have a daddy as awesome as yours.” He kissed the top of her head. “There’s only one daddy in the entire world who can be the best, and you’ve got him, so of course she would be upset to know that her daddy will never compare to yours. If you point out which little girl it was, I have a trick up my sleeve to make sure she never makes fun of you again. Can you come out from under the bleachers and point her out to me?”

Basil nodded and wanted to be in his arms. “Up Daddy?” 

Crowley nodded and guided her out from under the bleachers before picking her up. “Alright, now, I’m going to tell you this now, you are not allowed to do what Daddy does when you point her out ok? Your mommy wouldn’t like it and it is very naughty, ok?” Crowley said. “But go ahead and point her out. I’ll make sure that she never bothers you again.”

Basil nodded and looked around the room and saw the mean girl. She whispered into Crowley’s ear that she was the girl. 

Crowley found her in the crowd and narrowed his eyes once he spotted her. He wasn’t one to usually do this to children, but after the way that little girl had made his daughter feel, he was ready to do way more to her than he was about to do. He flicked his snake-like tongue at her while he decided which curse to place on her. Something that will distinctly remind her of the fact that she was cruel to Basil. Thinking of the perfect punishment, he snapped his fingers and watched as she spilled punch down the front of her dress and turned to her father to cry about her ruined dress. Now, every time she wore a pretty dress, she would spill something on it before the biggest part of the night. 

He looked back at Basil and squeezed her tightly. “I love you, my dear. Let’s not pay any mind to those meanies, alright?” He asked.

Basil was unaware of what her daddy had just done on purpose, so she wouldn’t remember or accidentally tell Mommy. “I love you, Daddy.”

“Now, the best way to upset your haters is to have fun even when they’re making fun of you. Are you ready to have fun tonight?” 

“You betcha Daddy!” She hung around his neck giggling.

“Oh! This is my favorite song!” Crowley said. He swayed back and forth, sometimes hanging Basil partially upside down (to save her dignity) just to make her laugh. 

Throughout the rest of the night, they danced and sung to every song they knew. Crowley kept watching for the little girl that had caused his daughter to be upset to make sure she stayed away. Her misery at them having fun was an added bonus. The last song of the night was “My Wish” by Rascal Flatts.

“You want to learn how to slow dance?” Crowley murmured.

Basil’s eyes lit up. “Oh yes, Daddy.”

“Alright, put your feet on top of my feet.” Basil did as was asked. “Good, good, now put your arms here,” he directed her to put her arms around his waist. He smiled as he put his arms around her for support. He began swaying back and forth and turning in a circle. He smiled down at her. 

Basil looked up at her daddy like he was everything to her. She closed her eyes and nuzzled against his middle since she wasn’t very tall. She just imagined it was only the two of them in the room. 

It took Crowley a few moments after the song had ended to realize that it had ended. It took him another few seconds to decide he was ready to let go of his little girl. She wasn’t going to stay little like this forever, and he wanted to cherish it while he had it. After the dance, they headed out to the Bentley.

“Now, we could go home,” Crowley said. “Or we could go get some ice cream and a movie to take home. Which would you rather do?” 

“Can we do that, Daddy? I don’t want this to end.” She held onto his hand. “Daddy, if the new baby is a girl will I still be special to you?” She asked shyly. 

"Yes we can go get ice cream," Crowley said. He looked down at Basil. "Of course you'd still be special to me. What's brought it on to think that you won't be?"

“Cause I wouldn’t be your only little girl."

Crowley smiled. "That doesn't matter. My love isn't limited. It only grows with how many people I have to share it with. He kissed her cheek. Don't you worry about a thing." They got to the car and Crowley opened the door for her so she could get in. He got into his own spot and pulled out to the nearest ice cream shop.

After Basil had finished her yummy treat, she had fallen asleep in the back of the Bentley looking rather angelic.

When Crowley pulled into the driveway, he looked back to Basil and smiled. "Oh, you sweet thing," he mused. He got out of the car and carefully picked her up and carried her into the house. 

It seemed Aziraphale and Florian were already in bed by the time they got home, so Crowley used a miracle to get Basil ready for bed and tucked her in with a kiss on her head. He headed back into his own bedroom.

Aziraphale was reading a book by dim light waiting for Crowley.

Crowley miracled himself into pajamas as he crawled into bed. "I wasn't expecting you to still be awake," he said, placing a kiss on Aziraphale's cheek.

Aziraphale smiled. “I wanted to hear how it went, my dear, so I waited.” 

“You old sap,” Crowley said, wrapping his arms around the angel. “I think it went rather well. Had a minor hiccup at the beginning, but I took care of it. The important thing is that Basil enjoyed herself. How was yours and Florian’s day?”

“What hiccup?” Aziraphale became immediately concerned “Crowley?”

"Oh, just a little bit of childhood problems. Nothing out of the ordinary. But I got it taken care of," Crowley replied. "How are you feeling?" He asked, not wanting to admit that he'd cursed a literal child, knowing that the baby should be a good distraction. 

“Had a bit of queasiness while you were gone, but I had some ginger ale and that did help.” He sighed resting in Crowley’s arms.

"Glad to hear it, angel. How did you and Florian spend your time?"

“Oh we played his favorite board games and watched some nature documentaries of his choice.”

"How nice." He smiled at his angel. "It sounds like we've both had one hell of a night, so how's about we call it?"

Aziraphale yawned curdling against Crowley’s chest “Mmmm I’m alright with that my dear. Goodnight my love”

Aziraphale yawned, curling against Crowley’s chest. “Mmm. I’m alright with my, my dear. Good night.”


	11. Let them eat cake

Aziraphale was now twenty-three weeks pregnant and had a full baby bump to prove it now. They would find out the gender because Crowley could easily sense the baby’s essence as he did with the other children. Basil was always trying to help around the house, and Florian was rather fascinated with his mommy’s growing belly.

"Are you certain you don't want it to be a surprise?" Crowley asked. "Once I do this now, there's no going back."

Aziraphale rubbed his belly happily, beaming with joy. “No, my love, I want to know. Maybe the next one can be a surprise,” he teased him as he sat down carefully.

Crowley nodded. "That is always an option." Crowley reached over and grabbed Aziraphale's hand. He wanted to tune into both the angel's and the baby's auras to make sure everything was alright before checking for the gender. He smiled. "Well, according to your auras, you're both doing just fine."

Aziraphale squeezed Crowley’s hand gently. “That’s wonderful. This baby is sometimes too quiet, I get worried.” He sighed in relief.

Crowley kissed the angel's temple. "I know, my dove. I know." He squeezed the angel's hand again before moving his hands to Aziraphale's belly. "Are you ready?"

“More than, my dear.” Aziraphale was nervous, and his breathing hitched as he waited for the result.

Crowley rubbed Aziraphale's belly lovingly for a moment before closing his eyes so he could really zero in on the corporal gender of baby number three. He smiled when he found it. He looked at Aziraphale. "Any final guesses before I tell you?"

Aziraphale looked at his love and he blushed. “I honestly will be happy with either. I have no clue, my dear. Please tell me.” He placed a hand over where Crowley had his on his belly.

"We've got ourselves another princess," Crowley murmured. "A baby girl."

Aziraphale began to cry happy tears as he went to hug Crowley. “Oh, a baby girl! How lovely! I’m ready to get back into the bows and frilly outfits. I love you so much, my dear Crowley.”

"Yeah, the frills of a little girl are quite nice, aren't they?" Crowley said. "All the glitter and such." He smiled and placed a kiss on Aziraphale's belly. "I love you, my sweet princess," Crowley whispered. He looked up to the angel. "Now that we have a gender, shall we name her?"

Aziraphale nodded as he smiled softly. “Yes, and I have a surprise way to tell the children.” He placed his hands around the swell of his belly. The angel always looked so soft when carrying the demon's children.

"Oh? And what's that?" Crowley asked. "Do you have any names in mind?"

“I’ve been watching some silly gender reveals on the interweb, and I want to get a cake with the right color frosting on the inside! Isn’t that fun!” He chuckled happily hoping Crowley would approve.

"I absolutely  _ adore _ that idea," Crowley said. "Do you want to make it ourselves or order it? We still have plenty of time before the children get off of school."

“I would mess it up. We can order it. And to answer the name question I think she should be a flower. Of sorts.” He felt a kick and moved Crowley’s hand to feel.

"It seems she agrees," Crowley said with a smile. "Flowers, hm?" He thought for a moment. "Indigo?" He threw the idea out. "There's also Iris or Lavender."

“Hmmm, I do like Iris. It’s simple. It’s elegant and girly.” Aziraphale kissed Crowley’s cheek and nuzzled close to him.

"Iris it is, then," Crowley said."I'll put the cake order in." He pulled out his phone but didn't move from his spot. He didn't want to miss out on this tender moment. He smiled when they picked up and put the order in. "By a  _ miracle _ , it's going to be ready by tonight for us." He kissed the angel before turning his attention back to the baby. "How do you feel about your name, miss Iris?" 

The baby girl in Aziraphale's womb moved around in response to her daddy’s question. The unborn babies always had a strong telepathic connection with Crowley.

Crowley smiled. "I'll take that as a yes," he said. "I like it too, Iris. Suits you well and suits the little theme we have going for us. I love you, my dear princess." He kissed Aziraphale's belly.

Aziraphale couldn’t help the emotions he felt watching Crowley dote on their baby girl and he sniffled. “I’m so sorry, dear. I’m happy, I swear.” He wiped his eyes.

"Aww, angel," Crowley wrapped his arms around Aziraphale's shoulders. "I love you too." He kissed the angel, keeping a hand on Aziraphale's belly. He cupped the angel's face with his free hand. "Our kids are the greatest gift life can bring." 

“I just feel like after everything we went through with, well you know, it feels good to have things go the way we want them. That it’s our life, that we have each other. And we will always have each other right?” He asked needing slight reassurance.

"Of course we will. As long as you don't go anywhere, I'm not going anywhere," Crowley said.

When the cake would be ready Crowley would pick it up before going to retrieve the children from school. Aziraphale decided to soak in a nap since with two hyper children it was hard to do that.

Crowley smiled down at the plain white cake. He'd decided to make it simple specifically because he wanted to let the other two children in on the secret as soon as possible. Especially now that they had her name and wanted to use it. 

"Hey, Daddy!" Florian greeted when he saw him. "What's with the cake?"

"Me and Mommy wanted to surprise you with something," Crowley said. "Today we found out the gender of the baby."

We get to eat the cake to find out?” Basil asked excitedly. 

“Yes, my dear, that is how we’re doing things,” Crowley said. He got home as quickly as he could because he didn’t want to wait to tell the kids. 

Aziraphale was up in his recliner relaxing when the voices of his kiddos rang in.

"Mama! Mama! Daddy got cake!" Florian rushed up to Aziraphale and climbed into the chair with him. He put his hand on Aziraphale's belly and giggled. "Can we have cake for snack?"

“Yes, my dears actually we are gonna have the cake now.” Aziraphale carefully got up with Florian. 

Basil ran to the kitchen and sat down at the table. Crowley brought the cake in and set it in the center of the table before going to get plates, forks, and a knife. He popped the cover off of it and smiled. 

"If it's blue, it's a boy. If it's pink, it's a girl," Crowley said. "Now, you both have to make a guess as to what you think the baby is before I'm cutting the cake."

“I think it’s a girl!” Basil said happily.

“I think it’s a boy!” Florian giggled and was close to Aziraphale still. He was a Mommy’s boy.

"Shall we find out?" Crowley asked. He put the knife to the cake, purposefully cutting agonizingly slow just to annoy the children a little bit.

Aziraphale was holding his belly and smiled. “Darling you’re being a tease.”

"Why would you accuse me of such a thing!" Crowley said with mock offense. "I would  _ never _ ." He finished cutting the cake. "I don't think they actually want to know. I think we can put the cake in the fridge and Mommy and Daddy can have it later."

“Noooooooo,” both of their children whined.

"Hmm, convincing argument," Crowley said. He smiled over to the angel. "Where are your manners?"

“Darling let’s see what the cake says.” Aziraphale didn’t want his children to wait for it anymore.

Crowley tutted. "Angel, where are  _ your _ manners. Apparently, I am the only one who has manners in this house!" He shook his head. “It's a shame. Maybe we'll do better with our next one." He pulled a piece of cake out, making sure Basil and Florian both got to see what color it was.

“It’s pink!” Basil clapped and cheered. Florian was mildly disappointed but didn’t cry over it.

"That's right! You're going to have a baby sister!" Now, how's about we have some of this cake instead of just looking at it?" Crowley finished dishing it out. He took a spot beside Aziraphale so he could have a hand on the baby. 

Aziraphale was eating his piece and loved how much Crowley was doting on him. Yes, he doted all the time but pregnancy doting was another level. Aziraphale savored the way his husband was.

Once they all finished, Crowley gathered the plates and put them in the sink. He put the rest of the cake into the fridge. He smiled hearing the sounds of his children playing and peppering Aziraphale with questions about the baby. Aziraphale was a very patient mother and he adored each question.

"Mama? When's she gonna come?" Basil asked.

“Four more months my dear.” He smiled at her.

She wrinkled her nose. "How is she going to come out?"

"Through his belly button, duh Basil," Florian said. He pulled Aziraphale's shirt up and pointed to his belly button. "See!" 

Aziraphale laughed. “Not quite dears."

"How then?" Basil asked, staring at Aziraphale's belly, imagining a baby coming out of Aziraphale's belly button. "That makes sense to me."

Aziraphale rubbed over his belly shaking his head. “Whatever you think dear.”

"That sounds like it's gonna hurt," Basil said. 

"I don't want you to be hurt!" Florian said. Crowley came into the living room and sat down beside the angel. 

"Curious little minds," Crowley said. "Always wanting to know everything."

Aziraphale winced and held his side. “Ooh.”

"What's wrong?" Basil asked in concern.

“Oh the baby just kicked near my ribs is all.” He smiled and took a breath. He was so happy she was being more active.

"Be nice!" Florian said. "We like our mama!" 

"It's alright," Crowley said. "Baby moving around is a good thing."

“Would you two like to feel?” He asked, wanting the children to feel included.

"Yes!" Basil said, putting her hand in Aziraphale's belly. Florian was a little bit more hesitant.

Aziraphale would let Basil show her brother it was fun. Basil felt Florian move all the time when he was in mommy’s belly. “Now let’s give her a moment . . . ah there she is.” Aziraphale felt a bonk and he knew Basil had to have felt it.

"Wow!" Basil said with a smile. "That's so cool!" Florian looked on with interest, though he still hesitated to touch. 

"It's alright, Florian. Baby is supposed to do that," Crowley said.

Aziraphale pulled Florian to his side kissing his head “You want to feel sweetheart? It’s alright if you don’t, but Mommy will help you.”

Florian looked at his mama's belly skeptically. "Doesn't it hurt?" He asked.

“No, sweet baby. No, it doesn’t.” Aziraphale was so gentle with him.

Florian looked over to the smile on his sister's face before looking back to his mama. "Ok," he said, though he still wasn't so sure.

“Okay honey. Mommy’s just going to take your hand, and I’ll hold it, okay?” Aziraphale smiled and placed Florian’s little hand over the spot Iris was moving around at and placed his over.

Florian waited patiently for her to move. As soon as she did, he jerked his hand away. "That's weird, Mama," he said. "That felt really weird."

“That’s alright, baby, you don’t have to do it again.” Aziraphale chuckled and looked to Crowley since Florian was headed to Crowley.

Crowley pulled Florian into his lap and squeezed him. "It is weird at first," Crowley said. "It definitely took me some getting used to when your mama was pregnant with Basil. But that movement is your little sister. How cool is that?" Florian shrugged. "Not enthused, alright." Crowley shrugged. "I'll take it all for myself then." Crowley put his hand on Aziraphale's belly, rubbing at the spots where Iris kicked his hand. 

Aziraphale was so happy in this moment, it was all he ever could have dreamed of. Aziraphale leaned against his husband. His wonderful husband who loved him.

After watching his daddy, Florian decided that he wanted to give it another try. Crowley moved out of the way so Florian could feel it properly. 

"Hello baby," Florian said after she kicked his hand. 

"Iris," Crowley replied. "Her name is Iris."


	12. Crepes make it all better

_ Nurses were scurrying around, whispering in alarm. No one was telling Crowley anything. It’d gotten to a point where they’d kicked him out of the room altogether. He’d fought it because he didn’t want to miss the birth of his daughter, but the medical staff insisted that he was in the way of a fragile procedure. So he was waiting.  _

_ “Mr. Anthony Crowley?” A short woman in scrubs called. Crowley stood up and rushed over to her. _

_ “Are they ok? Can I see them? I  _ need  _ to see them,” Crowley said. The woman bit her lip. Crowley sucked in a breath. “They’re ok, aren’t they?” The woman shook her head sadly.  _

_ “Your daughter was dead when she arrived. There was nothing we could have done to save her. Aziraphale . . . he died a few minutes later.”  _

_ “No . . .” Crowley breathed. “No, that . . . that can’t be right. You’re lying. Why would you make up such a horrible lie?” Crowley shook his head. “Why are you hiding them from me?”  _

_ “I’m-” He didn’t give her a chance to defend herself. He pushed past her and into the room where Aziraphale was.  _

_ “Mr. Crowley,” the doctor said. “I’m so sorry for your loss.” Crowley shook his head  _

_ “You’re lying!” He shouted. “You’re lying to me!” Crowley collapsed to the floor. “It can’t be.” He felt the tears burning his eyes. “It won’t be.”  _

The dream faded and Crowley sat up to face the world. He turned to look at Aziraphale. He sighed in relief when he saw the angel’s chest moving with his breathing and that the bump was still there. He grabbed the angel’s hand to zero in on Aziraphale’s and Iris’s auras. They were both perfectly healthy and safe. Aziraphale had a blissful smile on his face and a protective hand over his baby bump. 

Even though the auras had never lied to him before, after the dream he’d just had, Crowley wasn’t willing to risk it. He moved Azirpahale’s hand out of the way and prayed to  _ someone  _ that his daughter would move to reassure him that she was still ok. Iris was sleeping, but she did move around to readjust herself somewhat. 

Still, Crowley was somehow not satisfied. He decided to get out of bed, thinking maybe a glass of water would make him feel better. He wandered down to the kitchen. It was only a dream, after all. Not to mention the fact that he used to work for literal  _ Hell,  _ so a little nightmare shouldn’t be bothering him quite so much. He shook his head.

Aziraphale had felt the bed become colder without his husband and he put on his robe and wandered out to the kitchen. He found him there. 

“Crowley, do you want to talk about it? I’m here to listen.” 

Crowley startled at the sound of Aziraphale’s voice and shook his head. “Just needed a glass of water,” he lied, holding up his cup. 

“Dear, please,” Aziraphale moved closer to him. “Let me help you.” 

Crowley wrapped his arms around the angel. “I love you,” he murmured to avoid the subject. He placed his hands on Aziraphale’s belly. “And I love you, Miss Iris.” He placed a kiss on Aziraphale’s temple. “Really, angel. I just needed some water. I’m  _ fine.” _

Aziraphale closed his eyes, enjoying the affection. “Darling, please just tell me what’s wrong. Don’t lie to me.”

Crowley looked into Aziraphale’s pleading eyes and sighed. “It’s . . . it’s stupid,” he said. “I’m a  _ demon. _ It’s stupid.”

Aziraphale looked into Crowley’s eyes. “Nothing is stupid. Not with you, ever.” 

Crowley took a deep breath. “I had a nightmare, ok?” Crowley said. “See, it’s stupid. I’m a demon. Demons don’t have nightmares.” 

Aziraphale rubbed his back. “What happened in the nightmare?” 

Crowley shook his head, feeling the tears starting to burn his eyes again. He grabbed Aziraphale’s hand again just to get the assurance from his and Iris’s auras that they were still ok. He took a deep breath. “You died in childbirth and Iris was stillborn,” Crowley said. 

Aziraphale nodded and sighed. “Oh, my dear. That’s terribly awful. But you know I’ve delivered two healthy babies and I’ve been fine afterward. You must know that darling.” He took Crowley’s face in his hands.

Crowley sighed and nodded. “I . . . I know,” he said, “and logic tells me that this time will be the same. Besides the fact that you’re an angel. You can’t exactly  _ die.  _ Though if you were to be discorporated, I’m sure it would be a huge fight to get back in a body. But that doesn’t ease my fears about losing her,” Crowley said. He gently rubbed Aziraphale’s belly. “We can’t say for sure that the kids can’t die or what would happen to them when they do. Hopefully, we don’t have to find out, but what if it does?”

“Hopefully we never have to find out, my darling. Hold me? Just wrap me in your arms, my love.” Aziraphale asked. He, too, looked worried. 

Crowley did as was requested. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to intensify your anxiety,” he said. “I just don’t know what I’d do if . . . if something were to happen to her.”

“I don’t know what I would do either. I would . . . I would . . .” Aziraphale began to shake and sniffled into Crowley’s chest. To him, it took forever to conceive this blessing, and to think of her being taken away was too much for his heart to think of. 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up,” Crowley said. He grabbed the angel’s hand to check their auras again. He somehow still wasn’t satisfied with it. “I’ve checked you three times already today. You’re both fine, but I can’t shake this feeling.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why. I know you’re fine.”

Aziraphale pulled out of Crowley’s arms and wiped his face. “I’m going to head back to sleep. You’re welcome to join me if you see fit. I don’t feel so well.” 

Guilt flooded through Crowley’s senses. This was his fault. He was the reason Aziraphale wasn’t feeling the greatest. Still, he felt like Aziraphale was right. Perhaps they would both still feel better after some sleep. He knew that they weren’t going to lose their daughter. That was impossible.

Aziraphale had climbed back into bed and curled his blankets with a sad expression on his face as he tried to sleep. 

Crowley wrapped his arms around the angel. “She’s fine,” Crowley said. “She’s just fine. I can do another check if you would like.”

Aziraphale shook his head. “No thank you.” 

Crowley nodded. “I’m sorry for even bringing it up,” Crowley said. “Please try to get some sleep, though. You really need it. Make sure she  _ stays  _ ok.” Crowley protectively placed his hand on Aziraphale’s belly. “As long as I’m here, nothing will ever happen to her. Not to her, Basil, or Florian.”

Aziraphale nodded and drifted off to sleep. Crowley would definitely do something to cheer the angel up in the morning. It was Saturday, so he wouldn’t have to worry about getting the kids anywhere. 

***

Crowley did do just that. He got up extra early to make some homemade sweet crepes to surprise the angel with. It would be a fun surprise for the children as well, due to the fact that they didn’t usually let them have sugary things for breakfast to start their day off right. Besides, it was his own fault that the angel’s anxiety had been multiplied for no reason. 

He couldn’t shake his own feelings though. He didn’t sleep the night before, too busy doing checks on the angel and their daughter every few minutes because for some reason his mind would not accept that they were both fine.  _ It was just a nightmare. It’s not coming true.  _

He had the plates dished out right on time for Aziraphale to be getting up.

Aziraphale slowly woke up to the baby kicking, and he smiled. “Mm, I’m up little girl. Let’s go find Daddy.” 

Crowley smiled when he saw the angel and did what he could to hide the relief that washed through him to see the angel up and about. He approached the angel and put his hand on the angel’s belly and was greeted with a hearty kick. Crowley sighed in relief. “Good morning, angel.”

Aziraphale smiled and kissed Crowley, looking around. “What is this, my dear?” 

“I . . . uh . . . felt bad about, you know,” Crowley said, “so I got up and made you your favorite.” He handed Aziraphale a plate and a fork. “It took a lot of miracles to get them to come out. Crepes are harder than they look.”

“Oh darling you didn’t have to do anything, but I deeply appreciate it.” He took the plate and he began to eat.

"Good morning!" Basil shouted as she darted out of her bedroom. She ran up to Crowley and hugged him. "Morning Daddy!" She said. She went out to the table and sat down beside Aziraphale. "Morning Mommy!" Crowley brought her a plate and put it in front of her.

“Good morning, princess. Aren’t we up bright and early today?” He kissed her cheek.

Basil shrugged. "No school so I get to do whatever I want to." 

A few minutes later, Florian pulled himself out of bed and glared at his sister. "Why are you so loud! I was having a good dream." He sat down at the end of the table, away from everyone else. He was still trying to wake up and didn't want to deal with them just yet. Crowley fixed up a plate for Florian and got one for himself before joining his family at the table.

“Why were you sleeping in?” Basil just retorted back, shoving a piece of sausage into his mouth.

Florian coughed a few times before chewing. "I have a lot going on!" Florian said. "I had a hard week!" 

"What we're  _ not _ gonna do is shame each other for our sleeping habits," Crowley said. "Sleep is  _ healthy _ and  _ important. _ "

“Florian, why did you have a hard week?” Aziraphale asked.

"My teacher was being mean! I wouldn't even do anything and he'd yell at me!" Florian replied.

Aziraphale looked over at Florian. He was only in pre-school, what was there to be mad at? “Darling tell Mommy exactly what was said to you.”

"Well first he got mad at me for being quiet and not asking questions, but then he told me I asked bad questions! Mama if I don't have questions, why should I have to ask?" Florian replied. "And if he wasn't gonna like my questions, why would he make me ask them?"

Aziraphale sighed and looked at Crowley “Well, Florian, pre-school is to help you make friends and be ready for primary school. If you’re not happy, you can just go to a daycare place and then start kindergarten in the fall. I don’t want you unhappy, baby.”

"No . . . It's ok. I think he was just having a bad day. He's normally really nice."

Aziraphale smiled at his sweet son's nature. “You’re a good lad Florian. We have raised you well.”

Once breakfast was eaten, Crowley did the clean-up because he was the one to make the mess to begin with. The rest of the day was spent relaxing where they could and playing with the children. 

  
  



	13. Mothers Day Special

Aziraphale took the children to church the morning of Mother's Day. Crowley had successfully feigned forgetfulness, making the angel think he wasn't going to have anything planned. 

_ As if _ Crowley would ever forget a day he could pamper the angel for a specific reason. Today's reason was to thank the angel for bringing about their children. Pregnancy was hard on the angel's corporation and had caused permanent changes to it that he would never be able to undo. Crowley couldn't help but appreciate that on its own because he knew how much the angel's corporation meant to him.

Aziraphale would drop the children off at the children’s church before he would go join the service. He went to a very traditional church complete with hymnals and everyone dressed in their Sunday best. It was perfect for the angel and it did remind him of home back when it was much like this church. The children also couldn’t step into the actual place Aziraphale was since they were still half demon and it would burn them. As they learned with Basil as she has a small burn on her foot from it as they didn’t know. The place where children’s church was safe for their feet.

Crowley was glad that the angel had something he could share with his children. Something special that only the three (almost four) of them could enjoy together. He wasn’t itching to go to church, obviously, but he did want his children to understand their history. Even if he didn’t exactly agree with the Christian teachings. 

Crowley picked up a bouquet of Aziraphale’s favorite flowers and picked lunch up from the spot that seemed to be his favorite at the moment (Aziraphale loved food so much that it was always hard to pin down one specific favorite place. Iris was making it all the harder). Once he got home, he miracled the house to be perfectly clean, knowing how much the angel hated dust. He headed to the bedroom to pull the cards he’d had the kids make and the card he’d made on behalf of Iris out of his bedside drawer and placed them on the counter where Aziraphale would clearly see them when he got home after the service. 

He then turned the TV on to pretend like he hadn’t done anything while he waited for Azirpahale to come home. 

Aziraphale collected his beautiful children right after church had ended, walking home with them. Aziraphale opened the door and gasped when he walked in. “Oh my, what’s all of this?” He smiled and looked around the display. 

Upon hearing the angel’s voice, Crowley shut off the TV and got up to greet him. “What’s what?” Crowley said, playing stupid. He wrapped his arms around the angel and kissed him. He smiled. “Happy Mother’s Day, my love.” 

Aziraphale wrapped his arms around Crowley, kissing him well. “Oh, Crowley, my dear, thank you. I mean . . . I never expect anything, you know that right?” 

“Well, maybe you should  _ start  _ expecting things,” Crowley replied. “You’ve always worked hard for the kids and everything, and now you’re working extra hard because you’re pregnant with another of ours.” He placed his hand on the bump and smiled. “I know it isn’t easy, bringing about a whole new being, and I wanted to show my appreciation. And look, the kids did too.” Crowley brought the angel’s attention to the cards that were sitting out on the counter. 

“Well, should I sit down and open them?” Aziraphale blushed and looked at his kids for an answer. 

“You have to read them, Mama! We worked so hard on them!” Basil said. 

“Daddy made one too,” Florian said. “He’s so silly. You aren’t  _ his  _ mama.”

Aziraphale went to carefully sit down in his recliner and started with Basil’s.  _ To Mommy: Thank you for loving me and making me food in the morning. I love when we spend time together and you help braid my hair. I love you, Mommy. Love, Basil.  _ Aziraphale kissed her head of angelic hair. “Thank you, dove. That was so sweet and from the heart.” 

“You’re welcome!” Basil said. “It’s true! I love you lots! Look on the back! I put a drawing there!” 

Aziraphale flipped it over. “Is that a flying crepe spewing fire?” 

“No, silly!” Basil giggled. “It’s our family. Look, that’s Daddy. That one’s you, and you’re holding Iris. That’s me, and that’s Florian!”

Aziraphale laughed because there was a fire-spewing crepe in the background along with the adorable family picture. “Well, thank you, darling. Alright, Florian. Let me see what you said.”  _ Mommy, I love you! I love you’re squishy! Love, Florian _ . He didn’t expect a novel from the four-year-old. What he said was adorable. “So that’s what I’m good for? Being squishy?” He teased. 

Florian nodded enthusiastically. “I like it.” He put his hand on Aziraphale’s belly and scowled. “But your tummy isn’t squishy anymore.”

Aziraphale kissed Florian’s cheek. “Don’t worry. It will actually be even more so once your baby sister arrives.” 

Florian poked at Aziraphale’s belly. “I just don’t know why it can’t be squishy  _ now. _ ”

“Because the baby needs to have room, and it stretches Mommy’s belly. That’s why, dear,” he chuckled.

Florian sighed. “I guess.”

Aziraphale kissed his head. “Thank you for my card, dear.” 

“You’re welcome, Mama!” Florian said. 

“Looks like you’ve got one more,” Crowley said. “This one’s from Miss Iris.”

“Oh, Crowley. Can you read it to me?” He felt his baby kicking and rubbed soothing circles where she was. 

Crowley smiled. “Of course, my love.”

_ Dear Mama,  _

_ I love you so much already. You’ve made a nice home for me in here and you feed me nice foods. I love it when you read to me. I just know that you’re going to take good care of me when I arrive, and I am excited to get to meet you in a few months. You’re the best mama a baby can ask for. I love you, Mommy. See you soon. Love, Iris. _

Aziraphale teared up at that one and made grabby arms to hug Crowley close. Crowley leaned into the angel and smiled. He kissed the angel’s cheek. 

“I love you,” Crowley whispered.

Aziraphale hugged Crowley close, kissing him back. “I love you, darling. Well, I suppose we should eat now, then?” 

“I suppose,” Crowley said. He got up and headed for the kitchen and reached into the bags and started pulling the food out. He directed the children to go sit down. They listened, each taking a spot and waiting patiently for their Daddy to get their food ready for them. 

Aziraphale went to go change out of his church attire and came out in tan, tartan pants, and a blue turtle neck. 

“You look amazing, my love,” Crowley murmured into his ear. “Absolutely show-stopping.” He placed his hand on Aziraphale’s belly and kissed him. “I got your favorite. Or at least, Iris’s favorite.”

“Either way, you know I’ll eat it.” Aziraphale blushed and smiled after Crowley complimented him so. “My feet feel achy, so I’m going to recline in my chair if that’s alright while I eat.”

“Today is your day,” Crowley said. “Do you need me to rub your feet? Would that make them better?”

“Oh, would you darling?” Aziraphale went over to his chair and he had taken his shoes off, revealing his swollen ankles. With each pregnancy, it got worse. Kid number three was no exception.

“Oh, lord those look painful,” Crowley said, settling by the angel’s feet. He started rubbing them. “I don’t know how you do it.”

“Because when I look down into that new baby’s face, I would instantly do it again.” He smiled so softly it could melt anyone.

“I love the kids,” Crowley said. “I really do, but this,” he dug into Aziraphale’s foot a little bit. “It seems a lot of suffering.” Crowley shook his head. “Glad you’re so willing to do it because I would  _ never _ .”

Aziraphale tried to not take what he said as a snarky comment because hormones were rampant and he took a deep breath instead. 

“You alright there, angel?” Crowley asked.

“Mmm, yes, quite.” He blinked a few times. 

“How’s Iris? Giving you a hard time?” Crowley asked.

“She’s taking a nap, I think. She loves her naps, takes after you.” He smiled. 

“Isn’t that just wonderful,” Crowley said. “We do need another demon in this house. Ours are too nice.” As if on cue, the two children came bulldozing into the living room and came to cling on the side of the chair. 

“Lunch was good, thank you, Daddy!” Basil said.

“You’re very welcome,” Crowley replied, sneaking a look back at Aziraphale as if to say  _ my point exactly _ . Aziraphale laughed as he rolled his eyes.

As secure as his life was, he felt insecure about his appearance. With each kid, it became evident that he wasn’t going to be a size zero. 

“Kids, go to your rooms and play,” Crowley said. The kids did as they were told. “My love, I can hear you thinking. What’s going on?”

“I mean . . . I know you have given me everything. I hope you feel the same. That you’re satisfied with me. With who I am and how I look. And I mean, I’m a whale already, so I’ll be even bigger closer to the baby coming.” He frowned and sighed.

“Angel, if I didn’t love you, love every single inch of you, I would have left a  _ long _ time ago. You never would have had my children to begin with, let alone be sat here with baby number three with plans of more after her.” Crowley rubbed Aziraphale’s belly. “Sure your belly is going to get huge, but that’s part of the magic, isn’t it? That’s a whole  _ baby _ .” Crowley stared at Aziraphale’s bump in wonder. “This is the third time you’ve done this, and it  _ still  _ amazes me that there’s a little baby actually in there growing.” He smiled up to the angel. “Isn’t that just the coolest thing you’ve ever experienced? This is a whole new life that has never existed before. Another way to  _ physically  _ prove my love for you.” He turned his attention back to the bump. “So you gain a little weight with it. So what? Like Florian said, you’re better squishy.”

Aziraphale kissed Crowley on the lips. “You’re right, my dear. Thank you for helping me see that. I love our growing family. Every day I wake up feeling purpose in my life, and I used to guard the gate of Eden for goodness sakes!” 

“Didn’t do a very good job at that one,” Crowley said. “Maybe your whole predicament wouldn’t be as awful if you were better at your job.” Crowley laughed.

“Well . . . I met you, didn’t I, dear?” He intertwined their hands together. 

“Sure you did,” Crowley smiled, placing a kiss on the angel’s temple. “But that doesn’t make you any better at your job. Wasn’t your entire job to keep  _ me  _ out?” He laughed. “But that’s alright. I’m glad you sucked at your job.” He rubbed Aziraphale’s belly. “We wouldn’t have what we have if you’d smited me.”

“Oh, Crowley. Always such a romantic.” Aziraphale cuddled close. 

“I think I’ve solved my life crisis, too,” Crowley murmured. “On top of being only the best husband on the planet.”

“Wait, you truly mean that?”

“Well, not  _ solved  _ solved,” Crowley said. “But I think I do have an idea of what I would like to try next to see if I can’t something of a track.”

“What would you like to try, dear?” 

“Mulling around at a university,” Crowley said. “Take a bunch of random general studies classes until I figure out a field and get a higher-level human job.” He shrugged. “At least for a bit anyway.”

“Are you certain?” He asked. He didn’t want Crowley to feel like he had to do anything. 

“Oh yeah,” Crowley replied. “It’ll give me something intellectual to do for a while. Spread my big brain out where I can.” He rubbed Aziraphale’s belly. “I don’t want to start until after we’ve settled down with her. Don’t want too many changes at once. I do think it could be the solution to my problem though.”

“And I will support you any way that I can, darling, you know that.” He brought Crowley’s hand to his lips to kiss his knuckles. 

“I love you,” Crowley said. “I love you  _ so  _ much.”

The rest of Mother’s day was spent watching a movie and plenty of snuggles between the two.


	14. A pictures worth a thousand words

At thirty-six weeks, the newest member of the family would be joining them at any moment’s notice. Her room was ready, the clothes were washed and folded. Aziraphale was as big as a house. He had carried the baby high the entire pregnancy but was now starting to feel her lower, which made his corporation constantly needing to use the bathroom.

“Hey, ‘zirapahle,” Crowley said after doing the usual weekly scan of Iris’s aura and essence, “I’ve noticed recently that I can actually  _ see  _ her now when I focus hard enough.”

Aziraphale gasped. “You can, dear? Oh, how wonderful. I bet she’s so beautiful.” He sighed happily. 

“Yeah,” Crowley said with a smile. “She is.” He closed his eyes and zeroed in on her again. “You know, I don’t know if I ever told you, but I actually picked art up as a hobby a few centuries ago. I’ve gotten pretty good at it, I do think. Would you like me to draw her up for you to see?”

Aziraphale was completely in awe. “Oh, yes darling. Please, I would love to see her face through your fingers.” 

Crowley smiled and nodded. He headed to their bedroom where he still had a sketchbook and colored pencils stashed because he always thought he might get back into art. Crowley showed them to the angel. “Can you come to the table? It’s easier to draw on a flat surface like that and I still need you so I can reference back to her.”

“You want me to lay down or is sitting up ok?” He asked, walking over. 

“Whichever is more comfortable for you,” Crowley said. “Though I don’t want you to see the drawing until it’s done. All I need is your hand so I can see her as I need to.” He squeezed the angel’s hand to get another look at her. 

“Of course, my love,” Crowley said. “Do you want your recliner? I can bring it over here?” 

“Oh, yes.” Aziraphale held his back. 

Crowley looked over in sympathy before snapping his fingers so that the chair would be in the perfect spot for the drawing. He helped to ease Aziraphale into it. 

“Is there anything else that you need before I get started?” Crowley asked.

“No. I’m going to read this book so I won’t look your way.” He pulled his book up. 

Crowley smiled. “Alright then.” 

Crowley gave the angel’s hand another squeeze before delving into the sketch. Over the course of the next few hours, Crowley got lost in the art. At some point, Aziraphale fell asleep, which Crowley thought was a great thing, considering how often the angel was able to get any sleep with how far along he was in the pregnancy. He sketched her out perfectly. The color was a little harder to do due to the fact that she was covered in the fluids and he couldn’t quite tell, so he decided to leave her in black and white. He smiled down at the finished piece, almost tearing up at the final product. 

“Angel, she’s done,” Crowley whispered.

Aziraphale looked up from his reading. “Darling, am I able to see her now? Our beautiful Iris?” 

Crowley nodded and handed the angel the sketchbook. “There she is.”

Aziraphale covered his mouth and cried happy tears. “Oh . . . oh.”

“Beautiful, isn’t she?” Crowley said with a smile. “I can’t even say that I did her justice.” He shook his head. “No artist can capture her. She’s too perfect.” Crowley leaned over and touched where her fingers were resting by her face.

“Oh, she’s  _ so  _ beautiful. I cannot wait to hold her and kiss this face. Thank you Crowley.” he hugged his husband as close as the belly would allow. 

“She will be here soon,” Crowley murmured. “Only a few more weeks.” He smiled and shook his head. “So soon,” he mused. He kissed the angel before grabbing his hand so he could see her directly. 

The little baby had given an adorable yawn before smacking her soft lips. She had a lot of Aziraphale’s features. 

“She’s perfect,” Crowley murmured. Tears burned in his eyes. He still could not believe that he’d had a hand in making something so wonderful. There was nothing he could imagine her doing that would set him off her. She was going to be his little princess. Just like Basil.

Throughout the day, Aziraphale was having pesky fake contractions, and Crowley was trying to keep the children entertained once they came home. Aziraphale needed rest. 

“Ooh, what’s this?” Basil said, uncovering Crowley’s sketchbook. Crowley grabbed it and smiled. 

“That’s Daddy’s sketchbook. Would you like to see inside it?”

“Yeah. Daddy, I didn’t know you liked to draw.” She sat in his lap. 

“I don’t do it much anymore,” Crowley admitted. “But I had reason to today,” he said. He opened the cover. He flipped through the sketches until he got to the most recent one, the one he really wanted to show her.

“Wow. Who is that baby?” Basil asked, intrigued by the newest piece.

“That’s Iris,” Crowley said. “Your little sister.”

“But she’s still in Mommy’s belly.” She raised a brow. 

“Well,” Crowley said, “you remember how we told you I’m a demon and your mommy is an angel?” 

“Yeah, Daddy, of course,” she nodded and looked at him.

“Well, being a demon gives me special powers. One of those powers is that I can sense your little sister. I’ve found that I can see her too.”

“Wow, that’s really cool, Daddy!” She giggled, hugging him. 

“It is, isn’t it?” Crowley replied. “Florian, do you want to see your baby sister?”

“Yeah!” Florian walked over to look and he smiled. “Pretty baby. Daddy, why is Mommy tired a lot right now?”

“Making a baby is hard work,” Crowley explained. “It takes a lot of energy to support a growing baby. And he has to get ready for her to be born. It takes a lot of effort to get a baby out.”

“Daddy, where do we go when the baby comes?” Basil asked. 

“Your mother and I haven’t exactly discussed that one yet,” Crowley said. He hadn’t even  _ thought  _ of it, but he wasn’t going to tell them that.

“What was the name of the lady who had a book, Daddy? Remember? In the story you told us about the world before we were born.”

“Ah, the Miss Anathema Device,” Crowley said. “I suppose we could call her. Be a good chance to catch up a little bit.”

“I mean she sounded nice. For a witch.” She laughed a bit. 

“She is quite the nice young lady,” Crowley said. He nodded. “I’ll toss the idea with your mother and we’ll call her to see what she thinks about it.”

When the children were asleep, the two celestial beings discussed it. “The nice woman you hit with your car?” Aziraphale smirked as some things he couldn’t let go of.

“Yes, yes, alright, get it out of your system,” Crowley said. “But I do think she would be a good option for the delivery.”

“Well, she won’t be weirded out. I mean, it is worth calling her. We don’t need the children to be traumatized, even with something as natural as childbirth.” 

Crowley looked at the clock. “She’s a night owl, anyway, I’ll give her a call now to see if she’s awake.” He pulled out his phone and dialed her number.

Anathema was just doing some dishes since her boyfriend was in bed early and she saw her phone ring. “Uh . . . hello?”   
  


“Hello, Anathema, you remember me right?” Crowley asked.

“Is this the flamboyant angel or the demon who ran me over?”

“Unimportant,” Crowley said. “Anyway, we’re having another baby, due any day now really, and we were wondering if you would be willing to watch our older two children once we go into labor.”

“Wait . . . another? You have kids?” 

“This will be baby number three,” Crowley said proudly.

“Did you like . . . adopt?” She might have been a witch, but this was a lot.

“Did you miss the part where I said that he’s pregnant due any day now? No, we didn’t  _ adopt. _ ” Crowley laughed. “I don’t think I would be able to get approved for adoption if we tried.”

“Ah, ok. So you need me to do what exactly?” She asked, getting the idea now. She was trying to imagine the blond angel heavily pregnant. 

“Watch our older two children when our youngest decides to  _ make her arrival _ , so to speak. I can pay if you’d like. They’re incredibly sweet kids. Take after their mother.”

“Oh, Crowley, you don’t need to pay me. Not like that. Can I meet them? So it’s not awkward when I just come to get them.” She was fond of kids.

“Sure,” Crowley said. “Some other time though. They’re already in bed. Thank you so much for this. We owe you.”

“How about tomorrow? If you say he’s due anyway, better sooner than later.” 

“That sounds perfect,” Crowley said. “Thank you again, so much. See you then.” He hung up the phone and turned to his angel. “We’ve got her,” he said. “She’s coming tomorrow to meet them.” He put his hand on Aziraphale’s belly. “Everything is set in place. Now all we have to do is wait for her arrival.” He settled into bed. 

“I’m excited, but I’m nervous about doing the process all over again. Florian’s labor was so long. I think that’s why we waited four years.” Aziraphale also layed back against his pillows, reminding himself the pain was worth it to have a precious baby in their family.

“You’ll get through it again,” Crowley said. “I’ll be right there every step of the way.” He kissed the angel’s temple. “Good night, my love.”

“Good night, my darling.” Aziraphale fell asleep snuggled close against the demon he so dearly loved.


	15. A Witch in the Midst

“Today, we’ve got someone exciting coming for a visit so she can meet you two,” Crowley said, smiling at the children. “Her name is Anathema Device, and she is going to be the one looking after you two when your sister arrives.”

“Ah, the witch,” Basil said, sitting on the couch with her brother.

“Yes, the witch, my dear,” Crowley said. “She’ll be here in a little bit. I expect that you two will be nice to her. This is a huge favor and I don’t want her to regret her choice.” Crowley said this even though he wouldn’t expect his children to be anything but angels. They both took after their mother a lot.

Aziraphale was making sure there would be enough tea and biscuits for when she arrived, being a good host. The doorbell rang, and Crowley got up to go get it. 

“Anathema, hello! Thank you, again. We  _ really  _ appreciate you being so willing to help us out here.”

Anathema stepped in. “Such a lovely home.” She smiled and could see his red aura right away. 

“That would be thanks to Aziraphale,” Crowley said with a grin. “He never much liked my style so I just let him have at it. Come, come in the living room.” He led her to the other room. “That’s our oldest. Her name is Basil, and her little brother is Florian.”

The children were well dressed because their mother dressed them. “Hello.” Basil did a curtsy. 

“Hi there, lady,” Florian said all cute-like.

“Go on and have a seat anywhere,” Crowley said. “I hope you don’t mind questions because these two are full of them. And we encourage it to keep their intellect stimulated or whatever.” Crowley shrugged. 

Aziraphale waddled out. “Hello, dear. Thank you so much for coming.” 

Upon seeing the angel, Crowley rushed to his side to see if he could be of any assistance to him. The angel was already going through a lot and he didn’t like how much Aziraphale worked himself as it was. 

Anathema took in the sight of the very pregnant angel in front of her. The demon really wasn’t kidding at all. Aziraphale was  _ incredibly  _ pregnant. There was no denying that fact at all. She tried not to stare, though seeing a male-presenting person being pregnant was quite the shock. 

“How . . .?” She asked as Crowley helped to ease Aziraphale into his recliner. 

“Oh, simple my dear. Sex,” Aziraphale blurted out so easily.

“My gracious, angel!” Crowley said. “How I have corrupted you!” 

“Mama, what’s sex?” Florian asked.

Aziraphale’s pregnancy brain had forgotten the children in the room. “Nothing. Nothing at all, sit down and watch the tele.” 

Florian crossed his arms and pouted. His parents were always keeping all of the secrets from him. Why did they get to know but he didn’t? He plopped himself on the floor and stared at the TV, though he was too angry to focus on what was going on. Crowley laughed at his shenanigans. 

“Do forgive him,” Crowley said. “He can be . . . a bit much.” 

“Oh, he’s adorable. So, when your partner goes into labor, do you want me to pick the kids up? That way you won’t have to worry about anything at all?” She asked.

Crowley looked over to Aziraphale and shrugged. “That’d be really nice,” Crowley said. “We can call you as soon as we’re certain that it’s, you know, go-time. She’s been faking us out quite a lot lately.” Crowley smiled and put his hand on Aziraphale’s belly. “Making sure we don’t forget about her or something, I suppose,” he said.

Aziraphale smiled. “Do you have any other questions for us, Anathema?” 

“Oh, a few,” she said. “How long should I expect to be looking after them for starters,” she asked. “Just until she’s born or are you going to want a day or so?”

“Well, depending on how I do . . . I will want the children back after a couple of hours of recovering. What do you think, Crowley?” 

Crowley shrugged. “Honestly, angel, this is your whole thing. You’re the one who’s going to have to deal with the bulk of the . . . stuff. If you think you’ll be fine only a few hours after she’s here, that’s all good with me. I’m sure they’re going to be excited to meet their sister anyway.”

“Then yes, that should be the plan,” Aziraphale nodded. 

“That’s good to know,” Anathema said. “How long are you expecting this whole thing to take?” Anathema asked. She was certain that with Aziraphale being an angel, it had to be different . . . right?

“Well, like with any labor, it’s difficult to say. I mean, each one has been quicker, but we will have to see. We will have the children’s things ready to go, including toys and coloring books. Those usually keep them busy.”

“Must be nice having children that are so easy to please,” Anathema said. “On the off chance that I need them overnight, what time do you want them in bed by?” She asked. She pulled out a notepad because these were the sorts of important details that she was likely to forget.

“We don’t usually put them to bed super early. Otherwise, they wake up early. As long as they are in bed by nine, I don’t see any issues.” Aziraphale held his belly. 

“Anathema, do you have any kids?” Basil asked. “Kids we can play with when we visit?” 

“Oh,” Anathema chuckled and blushed. “No, no. Not yet, but one day though. I live by some kids though.” 

“New friends!” Basil cheered.

“Friends are always good, aren’t they?” Crowley said. “I’m sure the kids that live near Anathema are good kids.” He smiled over to the angel.

“Oh, yes, I’m sure.” Aziraphale nodded in agreement. 

“Do you have anything else for us?” Crowley asked. “We do have all day. Nowhere to be.” He shrugged.

“I think I’m gonna hang out with them on the couch.” She walked over to the two kiddos. 

Florian stared at her quizzically. He still wasn’t sure about this lady or why his parents were so willing to trust her with them. Basil, on the other hand, scooted right up next to her. 

“Are you going to be our aunty?” Basil asked. “It’s been just us in our family for so long that an aunty would be nice to have.”

Anathema looked for the words, but Aziraphale chimed in. “As long as she’s alright with it, I don’t see a problem with it.” 

Basil smiled. “I’ve wanted an aunty,” Basil said. “My friends talk about how theirs take them to get their nails did or just to go have fun.” She shrugged. “I like Mommy and Daddy, but sometimes they’re so boring. They won’t even let us have ice cream for dinner!”

“Well, then I guess I’ll do that stuff for you.” She smiled and bopped their noses. Florian wiped her touch off and Anathema laughed. “No touching for you then, I guess,” she said. “That’s alright.” 

“He’s just shy,” Basil said. Florian walked across the room and climbed into the recliner with his mama and buried his face in Aziraphale’s belly.

Aziraphale cuddled his baby boy. “He’s my little Mommy’s boy. Isn’t’ that right, dove?”

“I don’t know how he’s going to react when there’s a new baby around and Aziraphale can’t just drop everything for him,” Crowley said. “Though I suppose we’ll figure it out.” He smiled over at his little boy. “Don’t mind him, though.”    
  


“He’s a big baby!” Basil taunted. 

  
Florian shot straight up. “Am not!”

“Basil, enough.” Aziraphale was stern with her because right now, he didn’t need the extra stress of an argument. Aziraphale could be scary when he meant business, and the kids knew that. 

“I’m not a baby!” Florian said. He buried his face in Aziraphale’s shirt and mumbled some stuff that no one could actually hear.

“What do you say to your brother?” Crowley asked.

“But-” Crowley cut off any argument she might have with the Look. She sighed. “Sorry, Florian.” 

Crowley shook his head and looked over to Anathema. “Kids,” he said. “You sure you can handle them?” He chuckled.

Aziraphale kissed Florian’s head. “And you accept the apology, Florian.” 

Anathema shrugged. “I mean, I think I can. There are always worse things, right?”

“Oh sometimes,” Crowley said. “But they should be good for you. They’re usually well behaved. Being half angel and all that.”

Anathema spent a lot of time with the kids and found them very well-mannered and sweet. The siblings would bicker, but it was nothing that would send her running for the hills. By the end of the afternoon, she felt comfortable enough around them to take them, and she hoped that the children would feel the same about her. There was only one way to find out, and that was to wait until the day that she had to take them away from their parents when their little sister was in the process of being born.


	16. The List

Aziraphale was pretty much to term, and there was no baby coming in sight. The baby was low and Aziraphale’s hips ached, but it was clear little miss Iris was too comfortable. Aziraphale wasn’t really sleeping because he just could not be comfortable. He was living in his comfy, tartan pants and the largest button-up shirts in his wardrobe.

Crowley did so hate to see his angel so miserable and wished there was something he could do to help ease the angel. Anything really. While the kids were at school, he took to the internet to see if there was anything he could try to help get the angel some rest. He found a much more interesting option. 

“Hey, angel,” Crowley said, “I’ve just found out that there might be some ways to try and induce labor on purpose.”

Aziraphale was in his usual spot on the bed. “Mmm, what would that be.” 

“Well, there’s a whole list of things here, if you want to try them. Get her out so you can have your body to yourself again.” Crowley showed Aziraphale the list he had pulled up.

“Let’s start with the raspberry leaf tea.” Aziraphale already loved tea, so he figured to start slowly with the labor remedies. 

Crowley snapped his fingers and a glass of the tea appeared. “Here you are, angel.” He really wasn’t expecting it to work right away. In fact, with this one, he wasn’t fully expecting it to work at all.

Aziraphale slowly sipped on it as he held his large belly, trying not to be upset over the fact that she wasn’t in his arms yet. 

Crowley wrapped his arms around the angel and placed his hand on his belly. “She’ll be here soon,” Crowley murmured. “We’ve waited for a long time for her. I’m only doing this because you’ve been so miserable the last few weeks. Maybe we can get a jump on getting her out.”

“You’ve been so patient with me, darling. Perhaps these ideas will work in time.” Aziraphale continued to sip his tea and went back to the list. “Let’s try curry and pineapple.” 

“Your wish is my command,” Crowley said, snapping his fingers to make the requested things appear. “And perhaps it works as the more of them that we try, the more likely that you’ll start having real contractions.”

Aziraphale placed the cup down and began to eat on the pineapple slices and the curry in between. A weird yet satisfying mix of tastes. 

“How is it?” Crowley asked. “I can get you another one if that one isn’t what you want.”

“Mm, the curry is wonderful. Hey, pineapple curry?” He asked, wondering if Crowley could combine them.

Crowley shrugged. He was used to the angel’s odd pregnancy cravings by that point and snapped his fingers to make it happen. Crowley smiled. “Watch as your water breaks and we have to tell Anathema that she’s going to have to get the kids from school.” He didn’t think it would happen, but he was certainly going to have fun going through this list of things trying to get Iris out.

Aziraphale finished his second plate of curry and sighed, wiping his mouth. “Want to go for a walk?” Walking was on the list.

“If you’re feeling up for it,” Crowley said, “I’d be more than happy to go. But I know you haven’t been feeling the greatest.”

“Just help me up and get my loafers on, my dear.” Aziraphale sat on the edge of the bed. 

Crowley headed to the closet and pulled the shoes in question out, heading over to Aziraphale and helping him to get the shoes on. Once the shoes were on, he offered his arms to the angel. Aziraphale placed his hands on Crowley’s shoulders and hoisted himself up. “Steady?” Crowley asked.

“Yes, darling.” Aziraphale held his back. “Alright, I’m ok.” 

Crowley snapped his fingers to get his own shoes on. With the angel actually feeling well enough to go on a walk, he didn’t want to waste a moment of the time. He knew that once Iris was born, it would likely be a long time before he left the house. He grabbed the angel’s hand and led him out the door. 

The two of them walked side-by-side, holding hands through their neighborhood. Aziraphale got an idea. A very snarky, terrible idea, but he had to have some humor with this situation. He suddenly stopped, rather dramatically. 

It took Crowley a moment to notice that Aziraphale had stopped. When he realized, he turned back to look at the angel. “Aziraphale?”

Aziraphale did some groaning and deep breaths. “Oh god!” 

Crowley walked a circle around the angel, double-checking to make sure his water hadn’t broken yet. “Angel?” He pulled out his phone, already dialing Anathema’s number. “What’s wrong?”

Aziraphale flopped on the ground. “Crowley . . . I think the baby is going to come right now!” 

Crowley cursed under his breath, shoving his phone back in his pocket. There were still a few hours before the kids would be back, so he could get Aziraphale home first. He lifted the angel bridal style. “Oh, no she’s not,” he said. “No child of mine will be born on the side of the road.” He took the angel home as quickly as possible and put him back in bed upon arriving. He pulled out his phone and clicked the last button to get ahold of Anathema.

Aziraphale couldn’t handle it anymore because Crowley’s reaction was hilarious and he began to laugh so hard he was snorting. 

“Hello?” Anathema said though Crowley ignored her in favor of glaring at Aziraphale. 

“You were pulling my leg, weren’t you?” Crowley asked.

Aziraphale laughed so hard he peed himself. “Oh no! It’s not my water." 

"You pulled that one on yourself. You deserve to sit in your wet pants."

"Hello?" Anathema said again. "Is everything alright?"

Crowley put his phone to his ear, shaking his head. "Yeah, everything is fine. Aziraphale is just being a jerk."

Anathema laughed “Oh well I’m glad it’s okay.” She hung up.

Aziraphale miracled his pants clean. 

"You  _ can _ 't play with me like that, angel!" Crowley said. "She really could come any moment now!"

“I’m so sorry dearest.” Aziraphale kissed his cheek “Can we get on with trying actual stuff? I’m so sorry."

Crowley sighed with a smile. "I just didn't know you had it in you," Crowley said. "Yes, we can go on with the list. What else would you like to try?"

“Ummmm.....hmmm what else does the list say?”

"Apparently a good way out is how the baby got in," Crowley replied.

“Oh...well I don’t know if I would be up for that honey I’m rather big.” He frowned.

Crowley laughed. "I figured you would say that. There's also eating dates."

“Okay, I’m always going to go with food options.” He chuckled going to sit down. 

"Of course you are," Crowley said. He snapped his fingers and handed the bowl of dates to the angel before turning his attention back to the list.

Aziraphale sighed as he began to eat the dates.

"Are you feeling any change at all that might be early signs of labor?" Crowley asked. "This is starting to feel rather pointless."

Aziraphale burst into tears and cried into his hand. He was the one carrying the baby around with no break and wanted to meet her.

"I suppose that's a no, then," Crowley said, wrapping his arms around the angel. "It's alright. She'll be here soon enough. Everything we've tried is basically old wives tales anyway. Nothing set in stone to induce you."

“I’m not doing it right.” He cried into Crowley’s embrace.

"Oh, but of course you are," Crowley soothed. "You have a healthy baby girl growing inside you." He put his hand on Aziraphale's belly and smiled. "Anything beyond that is unimportant. I want her to arrive already, but she will come in her own time."

Aziraphale just cried and wiped his face. “Can I have a bath?”

"Of course, my love. Anything to make you feel better," Crowley replied. He left the room to get the bath started, including filling the room with the angel's favorite essential oils. He came back into the room. "Alright, angel. It's all ready for you."

Aziraphale took his clothes off and went right into the bath. His belly stuck out like a bizarre island.

"Look at her!" Crowley said, placing his hand on the angel's bare belly. 

“She’s kicking.” Aziraphale could feel it and smiled.

Crowley smiled. "Would you come out of there? Your Mommy and Daddy want to meet you," Crowley said. He rubbed Aziraphale's belly and smiled when she kicked the palm of his hand. "We're ready for you, princess."

Aziraphale sighed happily as he felt the movement. “Mmmm we love you, baby girl. Please come soon."

Crowley cupped his hand under the water and slowly trickled it over Aziraphale's belly to make sure it got some of the relaxing water over it too.

Aziraphale cupped his hands around Crowley’s face and kissed him gently.

Crowley smiled and leaned into the kiss. This angel was his everything. More than his everything. The angel was completely irreplaceable and he wouldn't know what to do with himself without the angel there. He closed his eyes and imagined for a moment that it was back at the beginning of their official relationship. The fluttery feeling that had come with that and the certain kind of  _ magic _ that never faded. 

Aziraphale would always be thankful that the Almighty was kind enough to let him have Crowley. His confidence, his love, his friend, and his lover. The father of his children and husband. Crowley was an excellent coach whenever he did finally go into labor with the babies. Basil’s birth was scary and uncertain because it was the first. Then came Florian's, and since he was positioned awkwardly, he caused terrible and painful back labor but that labor was shorter than the labor with Basil.

Crowley broke the kiss and put his forehead against the angel's. "I love you," he whispered.

“I love you too,” Aziraphale whispered resting his head against Crowley’s. “I’m ready to get out. Can you help me, dear?”

"Everything for you," Crowley murmured. He wrapped his arms around the angel and lifted him up, knowing Aziraphale would have had a hell of a time trying to get up on his own. He handed the angel a towel and his robe before draining the tub.

Aziraphale got his robe on and he felt some tightening in his belly but nothing unusual with this state of pregnancy. 

Crowley kissed the angel's temple. "I'm going to leave you to rest now," Crowley said. "You don't have to sleep, but I would like to have you rested a little bit. I'm going to get the kids from school."

Aziraphale had his hands on top of his belly and smiled “I will dear, I promise. Don’t be gone long.”

Crowley departed for the school and Aziraphale felt like he couldn’t get comfortable. He grunted and sighed and then he felt fluid between his legs “Oh my.”


	17. Such a Miracle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We felt bad making you wait for her delivery, so here's this new chapter!

Crowley got to the school and picked the kids up, not thinking much of leaving his angel at home. He smiled when he saw the children. He parked the car and got out. 

"Hello my dears! How was school?"

“Good! How’s Mommy?” Basil asked happily and Florian got into the car with a yawn.

"He's alright," Crowley said. "Just resting up." He helped the kids into the car before heading home.

“I can’t wait to hug him!” Florian smiled as he laid back into his car seat.

"It has been quite a long day," Crowley agreed. He pulled into the driveway and got the kids' stuff into the house. "We're going to be quiet just in case he's sleeping, alright?" Crowley said once they were in the entryway. "He's had a hard time sleeping lately, so we don't want to wake him up."

“Okay Daddy.” The kiddos both said, a bit disappointed but they understood.

"I'm going to go check on him, you two run off and play, ok?" Crowley said. The kids nodded and ran off to their rooms to play. Crowley knocked on the door so he wouldn't startle the angel with his sudden appearance before going in.

Aziraphale was on his knees on the floor riding out a contraction. 

"Braxton Hicks?" Crowley asked, putting a hand on the angel's back.

Aziraphale pointed to the bed where the water stain was.

"Oh  _ shit _ . It's real this time," Crowley said. He snapped his fingers to get rid of the stain. He dialed Anathema's number and told her to come get the kids. "When did your water break?"

“Shortly after you went to get the children.” Aziraphale panted and breathed out his lips. 

"Alright, alright, let's get you up." He squeezed the angel's shoulders. "I'm here now. You're not going through this alone."

Aziraphale held onto Crowley’s hands and leaned into the demon's back, making some noise as he breathed through a contraction “Ohhhhhhhhh.”

"Those are mighty close together for how short of a time I was gone," Crowley mused. He heard the doorbell ring. "Shit, I've gotta go get the kids transferred over."

“I’ll be fine. Get the children managed.” He sighed and held onto the bed sheets.

Crowley gave Aziraphale's hand a reassuring squeeze before heading to Basil's room, where both the children were. 

"Alright, my dears, there's been a change of plans. You're going to go with Anathema today. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

“Does that mean the baby’s coming?” Basil asked, grabbing her overnight bag already.

Crowley nodded. "Yeah, your sister is on her way. Anathema is already here, so let's hurry, alright?"

“Mommy! Mommy!” Florian tried to run past Crowley. 

Crowley grabbed him and swung him into his hip. "We're going to leave him alone and you two are going to go with Anathema for a while. Daddy will call when we're ready for you to come home."

Florian began to cry very sadly and the type of sad wailing. 

Crowley hugged him tightly. "I know, baby. I know. You're hurt and you want to see your mom. It's ok. But you have to go with Anathema. Can you be a good boy for Anathema?"

“Mommy!!!” He sobbed and coughed.

"I know, baby. It's ok to want to see him. But right now, we're going to go with Anathema, ok?" He carried Florian out to the front door and opened the door for her. He smiled sadly at her. "He's a little upset right now that he can't see Aziraphale," he explained.

“It’s alright, Florian. But hey, the sooner we leave the sooner you’ll be back here. I promise. Just gotta let Mommy and Daddy work together okay?” She smiled at the sad boy. 

Florian buried his head in Crowley's neck and shook his head. "I wanna stay."

"I know, buba," Crowley said, "but you can't. Your Mama needs some alone time to get your sister here." Internally, Crowley was starting to freak out about how long he'd left Aziraphale alone, but he didn't want to leave his son feeling unloved before adding another baby to the family.

Basil reached and held Florian's hand “It's okay Florian. I promise.”

Florian looked up and reached for Anathema. Once she had him in her arms, he buried his face in her neck. Crowley handed her his overnight bag and mouthed "thank you" to her as they left. As soon as he shut the door, he was back in the bedroom with Aziraphale.

Aziraphale was barely standing up as he was riding out a contraction and swaying his hips. He was in a good amount of pain but not Florian's labor level of bad. 

Crowley walked across the room and wrapped his arms around the angel to support him. He kissed the angel's temple. 

"The kids have been taken care of," he assured the angel. "Now it's just you and me, my love. You, me, and the baby."

Aziraphale leaned right back against Crowley nodding as he was breathing and squeezing Crowley’s hands. The angel had red cheeks and his hair was starting to dampen. 

"You've got this, my love," Crowley whispered. He kissed Aziraphale's temple. "You've come this far. Only a little further to go."

Aziraphale began to tense up feeling another one coming on which wouldn’t get him anywhere. 

"Deep breath in," Crowley said, sensing the tension. "And let it out." Crowley reached around the angel and gently lifted the angel's belly. Something he could do to try and ease this for him.

Aziraphale slowly let out deep breaths with some gutterly moans low in his voice. 

"Easy does it," Crowley whispered, trying to be as calming as possible. He began rocking back and forth with the angel. "This is what we were trying to accomplish." He smiled and kissed the angel again. "Looks like she decided to listen."

Aziraphale let a smile escape his lips. He was starting to get tired of standing. “Mm need to be off my feet, darling.”

"Of course, my love," Crowley said. He slowly walked towards the bed and gently helped the angel into it. 

***

It was starting to get closer to nine o clock and Aziraphale was in hardcore active labor, obviously by the loud noises he was making.

"That's it, let it all out," Crowley said. "Anything you need to do."

“Nnnnnnnn oh Crowley!!!”

"I know, angel." Crowley kissed that angel's head. "I know."

“I know you checked me already but please again!” Aziraphale was writhing on the bed feeling pressure.

"Of course," Crowley said. Crowley went to the end of the bed to check again. "Still not quite there, my love. I know it's tough."

Aziraphale was just tired. This was getting to be as long as his first labor. 

Crowley kissed the angel's temple. "I wish I could help get her here sooner. All we can do is wait." He wrapped his arms around the angel to try to be as soothing as possible. "It's going to be ok. Just rest up as much as you can so you don't run out of energy before you have to push."

At around midnight Aziraphale was so tired he actually fell asleep. Crowley could check the baby’s aura and vitals. Everything checked out just fine. He checked in with her to see if she was getting any closer to being in position. Crowley sighed with relief when he found that she was lower than she had been at the start of the whole thing. At least he had that. 

Crowley refused to sleep, though. He needed to keep watch over the angel to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible.

Aziraphale was sleeping through contractions and he winced. 

"Aww angel," Crowley murmured. "I really wish we could speed things along. The other two didn't take this long and I hate to see you suffer for so long." He kissed Aziraphale's temple and curled up next to him. "You sleep while you can. I'll take care of everything."

Around two in the morning, Aziraphale woke up grunting and he was panting “Crowley please check me dear now!”

Crowley did as he was asked. "It seems that it's time to start pushing, my love." Crowley walked to the side of the bed and grabbed the angel's hand. He placed a kiss on the angel's forehead. "I know you've been at this for a long time, but I need you to give me the best push that you can with the next contraction."

Aziraphale sat up and held his legs back and began to push and he was yelling very loudly. 

"Good, good," Crowley said. He rewarded the angel with another kiss. "You're doing well."

Aziraphale took Crowley’s hand this time since Crowley helped hold Aziraphale's leg. “AHHH!!!!!” He bore down again.

"There's a good angel," Crowley whispered. "You're doing  _ amazing _ ."

Aziraphale could feel the baby’s head crowning and he was leaning on Crowley to get through it as he was crying. 

"I know," Crowley whispered, brushing his fingers through the angel's hair. "But you're going to get through this. You're almost done." He squeezed the angel's hand before walking to the end of the bed. "She's crowning, darling. She's very nearly here."

“Just one more I can only manage one more!” Aziraphale used the last of his energy to push and their beautiful little girl was sliding right out into the arms of her father.

"There you are, Iris," Crowley said with a smile. "You've made quite the fuss. You were comfortable, weren't you?" Crowley felt the tears brimming his eyes. "I don't blame you. I'm sure your mother made quite the comfortable home." He brought her to the side of the bed so Aziraphale could see her.

Iris was screaming her lungs out, and it was a beautiful noise as she was very much announcing her presence to the world. As Aziraphale requested, he always waited until the baby was on his chest for Crowley to clamp the cord. Aziraphale gently guided the baby to his chest crying of joy. “Oh . . . oh darling little girl. I waited so long to hold you.” He sniffled. 

"You did good, Mama," Crowley whispered, squatting down to place a kiss on Aziraphale's temple and get a better look at his daughter.

She was identical to the picture Crowley had drawn. Cute little button nose and Crowley’s brows. Her hair was very strawberry blonde, neither red or blonde. And tiny freckles dotted her shoulders. Aziraphale was getting to know his little girl breathing her in getting those good natural bonding endorphins through his corporation.

"Wow," Crowley breathed. "I will never get tired of this feeling. Look at her, experiencing the world for the very first time."

“She’s just taking it all in now that she knows she is safe.” Aziraphale kissed her little forehead. Iris was blinking her eyes open looking around at the new place. Her eyes were very very dark, a lot like big sister's.

Crowley smiled softly. "Incredible," he murmured. "I'm going to take her and clean her up and text Anathema to let her know that the baby has arrived, but we are in no way expecting the children yet. This has been rough and it's," he looked at the clock, "two forty-five. Crowley shook his head.  _ Damn _ angel, you braved that for almost eleven hours. I'm proud of you." He kissed the angel again before taking Iris to be washed up, dressed, and swaddled. As soon as she was back on Aziraphale's chest, he pulled out his phone and texted Anathema.

Aziraphale looked completely exhausted but very happy with the result as he rocked his newborn daughter happily in his arms.

Crowley crawled into bed with the angel. "We've both had a very long night. I think we need to call it for now. You've been through a lot, I've been up the whole time, and she's just been born. She needs her rest." He placed a kiss on her head.

“Let her stay a few more minutes please.” Aziraphale asked him.

"You're her mother, you're just as in charge of her as I am," Crowley replied. He rubbed the baby's back. "I just know we're both going to want to get some sleep before her siblings come back home."

“I need to nurse her beloved.” Aziraphale began to help her to his chest.

"'course angel," Crowley said. "It has been a number of hours since either of you've had anything to eat. Speaking of, would you like me to go get you anything while you do that?"

“Smoothie?”

Crowley smiled. "Of course." He stood up and went to make the smoothie ad quickly as he could. When he came back, Iris was chest feeding and Aziraphale was looking down at her lovingly. Crowley stood in the door frame for a moment, not wanting to destroy the precious moment between mother and daughter.

“You were  _ so _ wanted little girl, did you know that? We just felt our family wasn’t complete. And now it feels so much more full.” Aziraphale kept his voice calm and peaceful as he nursed his new baby.

Crowley crept back into the bed and placed a kiss on the angel's temple. "We love you  _ so _ much, Iris," Crowley said. 

Aziraphale sipped on the smoothie as he was finishing up nursing iris and burped her. “I don’t wanna put her down. We worked so hard for this moment.” Aziraphale was so exhausted as he slurred.

Crowley smiled. "I know. I don't want to either, but she's still going to be here in the morning." He placed a kiss on each of their heads. 

Aziraphale nodded and he handed over his princess to Crowley. He knew he deserved a few cuddles with her.

Crowley smiled as he stood up with her. He kissed her head again as he lowered her into her bassinet. "Good night, my love," he murmured to her. He headed back to bed. He kissed Aziraphale on the lips. "And good night Mama," he whispered. He snapped his fingers and the lights went out.


	18. The morning after

Anathema woke up early the next morning. She checked her phone for an update on the baby. 

_ Baby Iris has arrived, but we're going to rest up for a while. I'll let you know when we're ready for you to bring the kids home _ .

The text was marked for almost three AM. "Dang, that was a lot longer than I was expecting that to last." She looked over to her sleeping boyfriend and smiled before she got up to start getting ready for the day. The kids had stayed up a little bit later than Aziraphale had requested, but Anathema could not for the life of her get them to lay down because they were so excited about the impending arrival of their sister. Still, she figured they would probably get up early again. They were, after all, children.

Basil was knocking on the door “Anathema?” She asked through the door sounding sleepy.

Anathema opened the door. "What do you need?" 

“I’m hungry. Is Mommy okay?” She asked, feeling nervous and anxious.

"Your mother is doing just fine," Anathema said, making that assumption since Crowley hadn't said otherwise. "Let's go out to the kitchen and find some breakfast." She reached down for Basil's hand to guide her to the kitchen. "What sounds good?"

Basil held her hand. “I like all food so it’s alright. I know Florian is more

Picky so for his sake waffles?”

"I can do pancakes," Anathema offered since she didn't have a waffle iron.

“He likes those too.” She smiled and sighed. “Did the baby come?”

"She did!" Anathema said. "While we were all asleep she was born."

“Awwww! I can’t wait to see.” Basil giggled and sighed in relief that her mommy was okay.

"I'm sure she's adorable," Anathema said. She pulled out the ingredients and put them all on the counter. "Would you like to help?"

“Yeah, I help Daddy all the time.” Basil used some of her powers to show off.

Florian had woken up with bed head and looked sad “Is mommy okay?” He rubbed his eyes. 

"Yes, he's doing good," Anathema replied. "Do you want to help us too?" She asked. "We're making pancakes."

“Oh okay.” Florian smiled as he went to go join them. 

Anathema showed them the proper proportions of everything and helped them to mix everything together. Once the batter was ready, she sent the kids off to go play so she could cook the pancakes without intervention.

At that time the phone rang and it was Crowley “Hey how are you guys? How are Aziraphale and new baby?” She smiled.

"He's doing as well as he can be," Crowley said with a smile. "And the baby is as precious as can be. How were the kids?"

“Oh they were asking about him and if the baby came and I said he was doing well and the baby arrived last night.” Anathema could hear little baby whimpers. “Oh my goodness she sounds so sweet.”

"Yeah," Crowley said. “She's the best thing we could have asked for." He rocked her in his arms. "I just wanted to check in with you this morning. Aziraphale is still sleeping. I can stay on the line though if the kids want to talk."

“They’re outside playing right now and I’m finishing making breakfast. When will you want them home? I’m sure they’re starting to get homesick.” Anathema saw them playing in the yard. 

"We'll see about how Aziraphale feels when he wakes up. Baby delivering is a hard business." Crowley smiled and kissed his daughter's head. "Besides, I don't want him to miss out on the kids meeting their sister for the first time."

“I’m sure. How long was the labor process total?” She asked as she placed the fresh pancakes on the plate.

"Right around ten hours, I think," Crowley said. "Lot longer than either of the other two. Miss Iris apparently didn't want to come out." He chuckled. "That's alright though."

“Wow well Aziraphale is a super mom that’s for sure. Alright, I better tell the kids breakfast is done just text or call me whenever. Take care, Crowley.”

"Talk to you later," Crowley replied before hanging up the phone. He looked lovingly over to his sleeping angel, thankful that he was finally getting some sleep after the last few weeks of not being able to sleep very well.

Aziraphale was slowly beginning to wake up to the sounds of Crowley talking to their new baby girl. 

"- and you're just going to  _ adore  _ your siblings. Basil is loud and will play all kinds of games with you. Your brother is going to take a little bit more time to come around to you, but he will eventually . . ."

Aziraphale smiled as he slowly sat up with a stretch “Mmmmm . . ."

"Oh! Angel!" Crowley smiled over to him. "Good morning. How did you sleep?"

“Wonderful. I’m very sore.”

"That's understandable, my love. You brought us another miracle early this morning." Crowley rocked their new daughter in his arms. "Would you like her back? I can go get you some breakfast. Whatever you like."

“I wanna see my baby.” Aziraphale smiled at the little baby girl.

"Of course you do, you worked hard and long for her." Crowley handed her over. "Do you need breakfast? Or water? Or anything, really? I can get anything you need." He kissed the baby's head before kissing Aziraphale.

“I would like breakfast. I’m very peckish” Aziraphale rocked Iris, looking at her beautiful face. She was still adjusting to life outside the womb. 

"Anything in particular or just whatever I whip up?" Crowley asked, standing to go get the food ready. 

“I’ll take anything, love.” Aziraphale knew Iris would be hungry.

"I'll be back before you know it." Crowley headed down and made scrambled eggs because it was fast and he wasn't ready to leave Aziraphale or Iris for more than a few minutes at a time. The magic of having a new baby was just settling in, and he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

“Hello miss Iris.”Aziraphale held her up to his chest. He nursed all his children. It was a wonderful experience and Iris would be no exception.

A few minutes later, Crowley returned with a plate of eggs and a fork. He placed it on Aziraphale's nightstand so he could have it when he was done nursing Iris before crawling back into bed. He scootched so he could be close to the angel. 

“She’s just finishing up. We have to get her nice and strong.” Aziraphale whispered and ran his hand over her beautiful hair.

Crowley smiled. "Of course, angel," Crowley murmured. "I called Anathema this morning to check-in. Kid've been worried about you." He kissed the angel's temple. "But they've been good for Anathema, unsurprisingly."

“Oh, they can come home before dinner? I do miss them. Can you tell Anathema that?” Aziraphale gently burped their baby. 

"I could text her and tell her to bring them home as soon as you've finished your breakfast if you'd like," Crowley said. "I quite miss them too, and I'm sure they're anxious to meet their sister."

“Oh yes of course.” Aziraphale held her as he began to eat breakfast. 

Crowley drafted the text letting Anathema know that they would be ready for the children in about ten minutes, whenever they were ready to come home. Anathema shot back saying that they were still eating but she would get them ready to go home as soon as possible.

Aziraphale finished eating so he could stare at his beautiful baby girl. “How much did she weigh darling? I was quite out of it yesterday."

Crowley shook his head. "I knew I forgot something!" He declared. He smiled sheepishly at the angel. "I was so tired by the time that she arrived that I forgot."

“You didn’t take her measurements?!”

"Yeah . . ." Crowley murmured. "I forgot." He sighed. "It's always something."

“Well quite the third child predicament then."

Crowley laughed. "I suppose it is," he replied. "I've done it twice before. You would think I would know the drill by now."

“Can you possibly go back into your head and figure it out using your powers?” It was obvious this was important to Aziraphale. 

"Or I could just take her, do the measurements, and bring her back," Crowley replied. 

“Well . . . alright dear.”

"Don't worry, I'll make it fast," Crowley said. He grabbed Iris and took her to the bathroom where they had the scale for her. Once he got her weight, he measured her head to toe and went back into the room and handed the angel the baby. "Ten pounds, three ounces, and twenty-one inches long," Crowley said.

“Wow. She’s our biggest baby so far. Well, it makes sense. She cooked the longest.” Aziraphale smiled and looked at her so sweetly.

"Yeah," Crowley said. "Chunky monkey, she is. Fed her really well," he said. He brushed his finger over her hand, causing her to grab hold of him. "I love you, my sweet Iris," he cooed.

Aziraphale rocked her gently and he cooed down at her. “You're perfect, little girl. I guess we are going to go right into the 0-3 clothing newborn will be too tiny for her."

Crowley smiled. "That is true," he said. The doorbell rang. He kissed Iris's head. "That must be your brother and sister," he murmured. "Are you ready to meet them?"

“Please tell them I’m a bit fragile, and we need quiet voices for Iris.” Aziraphale reminded Crowley to tell the children.

Crowley kissed the angel's temple. "Of course, my love," Crowley said. He hesitated to leave even though he knew he'd be right back, but he got over himself and headed downstairs to the front door.

Once the door was open two happy children went into their daddy’s arms “Hi! We missed you!”

Anathema smiled. “They were very good kids. You should be proud. I better let you all get to know the new baby send me pictures alright?" 

"I will, thank you so much for watching after them. It's a lot of responsibility and I appreciate it greatly." Crowley squatted so he could better wrap his kids up in his arms. Anathema closed the door on her way out. Crowley let go of the kids and put a hand on each of their shoulders. "We've got a few rules we need to go over before we go in and see Mommy and Iris, ok?"

Basil and Florian nodded slowly. “What kind of rules?” Florian asked very curiously.

"Well, we need quiet voices, ok? Iris isn't used to being around people yet and we don't want to scare her. And your mommy is still hurting, so we need to be extra gentle with him, ok? Your sister is also fragile, so no roughhousing with her or in the bedroom. If you want to do that, you have to leave."

“Just like when Florian was born. Ok, Daddy.” Basil smiled happily at him. 

Florian looked a bit disgruntled. “Can I hug Mommy?” 

Crowley nodded. “Yes, my love. You just have to be extra careful and not hurt his tummy.” He grabbed both of their hands and guided them to the bedroom door. “Are you ready?”


	19. Family of Five

Aziraphale was sitting up in their giant bed, propped up by lots of pillows and blankets. He had brushed his fluffy, white hair to look more presentable for his children. Aziraphale looked in his mid-forties no matter what, since that was the corporation look he chose so long ago. The bedroom door slowly opened. 

“Come in, my doves,” Aziraphale whispered and had a warm smile.

Basil walked right in, though Florian hesitated by the door, not wanting to do anything to hurt his mother. Crowley squatted down to be eye level with him. 

“It’s alright,” he whispered. “You don’t have anything to be scared of.” Crowley squeezed Florian’s hand before walking in, having been away from his brand new daughter for too long. 

Aziraphale patted the bed for his sweet children to join him. He did miss them so much and was glad they could all be together. 

Basil crawled right up and moved to sit as close to Aziraphale as possible. She pulled on his elbow so she could get a better look at the baby. Florian lingered by the door. Crowley looked over to him and gestured that it was ok, he could join them, but Florian only shook his head.

Aziraphale saw his little boy in the doorway and he smiled. “Florian, come to Mommy. Please, I need to see you.” 

Florian took a few steps into the room before firmly planting his feet on the floor. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said. “Daddy said you’re hurt.”

Aziraphale shook his head with a smile. “Mommy is sore, yes, but I promise I’m alright. There’s someone I want you to meet.” 

Florian took a few more steps in. He looked to his daddy for support who nodded. Florian finished the walk over to Aziraphale’s side of the bed. That’s all the closer he would get. He would not be crawling into the bed and risking hurting his mama that way. 

Aziraphale pulled the blanket back around Iris to reveal her pretty face. She was sleeping soundly. She had a floral beanie with a bow on with a matching swaddler that Crowley had found online because it reminded him of Eden.

Florian tentatively took a step towards the baby, but he was still keeping his distance. She was a lot smaller than he’d been expecting her to be, and he remembered his daddy telling him how fragile she was, and he didn’t want to hurt her either. 

“Isn’t she just the cutest?” Crowley asked the children. 

Basil was cooing to her little sister. “She’s so pretty! She looks like Mommy!” She giggled. 

“She really does, doesn’t she?” Crowley said. “Guess she got the jackpot there.” Crowley smiled and looked over to the angel. Florian had taken a few steps closer because he didn’t see how she looked like Mommy. To him, she just looked like a baby.

Iris made a little noise and scrunched up her face, smacking her lips. Florian backed away immediately, thinking he’d done something wrong.

Aziraphale didn’t like how his baby boy seemed so scared. He gently handed Crowley the baby. “Little one, Mommy wants you closer.” Aziraphale used his powers to bring Florian closer. 

Florian started to panic at the lack of control over his own body. He tried to fight it, but soon enough he’d walked himself across the room and back to Aziraphale’s side of the bed.

“Hello, sweetheart.” Aziraphale kissed his son’s head of beautiful red curls. 

Florian tensed. “Hi, Mama,” he said. He tried to duck out of his mother’s reach but wasn’t successful.

“Why are you trying to leave me?” Aziraphale didn’t like it at all. 

Florian felt the tears well up in his eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt the baby.” He wrapped his arms around himself. “Daddy said we have to be careful and I’m scared.”

“Oh, darling. Careful is a good thing, but you won’t hurt either of us, alright, Florian?” Aziraphale cupped his hands around Florian’s cheeks and make him look at him so he understood Mommy’s words.

Florian wiped the tears off his cheeks and sniffed, but he still didn’t want to do anything because he was still scared of hurting Mommy and the baby. 

“Here, look, Florian,” Crowley said. “Basil, do you want to hold your sister?”

“Yes!” Basil said. She got herself positioned so she could hold her sister. Crowley passed Iris over and resituated Basil as he thought she needed to. 

“Look at that,” Crowley said. “Your sister is holding her completely on her own and isn’t hurting Iris.” He wanted to use this as an example to Florian to show him that he could be careful and still get to be near Aziraphale and the baby. 

Florian was still hesitant, but he buried his face in his mother’s neck, at least feeling confident that he wasn’t going to hurt him.

Aziraphale had no doubt that Basil would naturally adapt quicker to having another younger sibling. He knew this would be a lot for their almost five-year-old to take in, and that was perfectly ok. He didn’t have to do anything or even hold Iris today. 

“Mama, can I have a hug?” Florian asked. He wanted Aziraphale to initiate it so at least that way he would know where his mother’s limits were and he wouldn’t be the one responsible for hurting him.

“Florian, you never have to ask Mama for a hug. My arms are always open.” Aziraphale hugged his little boy close that they were cheek to cheek. 

“Look, Mama!” Basil said. “She’s smiling at me! She likes me!”

Aziraphale gasped and smiled. “Oh, how wonderful. She must recognize your voice from you talking to my belly all the time.” 

Basil nodded and went back to cooing at her little sister. Florian looked up and tried to look at Iris from where he was standing but he couldn’t see her. 

“I wanna see!” He said. “I wanna see her smile!” He stood on his tiptoes to try and get a look at her. 

“Darling, why don’t you give Iris back to me so Florian can see?” Aziraphale asked, taking a sip of water. 

“But there’s plenty of room on the bed!” Basil pointed out. “If he wanted to see her that bad, he could come up here.” She really didn’t want to have to stop holding her sister just because her brother was being a brat.

“Florian, why don’t you go be by sissy?” Aziraphale suggested. 

Florian shook his head. He was feeling more confident about not hurting his mother, but the baby was a whole different field. She looked too fragile to be on a bed like that with so many people on it. She was little enough that he didn’t even know why his parents were letting Basil hold her.

“It’s alright dear you don’t have to do anything you aren’t comfortable with.”

Florian nodded. He still wanted to see the baby though. He stood on his tiptoes but lost his balance and fell backward. 

“Careful, sweetie!” Aziraphale made sure with an angelic intervention that he wouldn’t hurt himself. 

Florian pulled himself back off the floor and sighed. “I guess I’ll wait until she’s done,” he said with disappointment. 

“That’s alright, Florian,” Crowley said. “You can come to this side of the bed. Here, I’ll switch places with Basil so you can see Iris too.” He eased Iris out of Basil’s arms and urged Basil to move to the side of the bed. 

“But what if she drops the baby!” 

Basil switched spots with a smile. 

“She won’t drop the baby, I promise,” Crowley said. “Here, I’ll make sure of it.” He wrapped his arms around Basil, helping her to support Iris. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Basil. He just wanted Florian to feel as comfortable as possible while meeting his little sister. Florian still hesitated to get close to her.

Aziraphale smiled, watching his family all together. 

Florian inched forward, the curiosity of the new member starting to override his anxiety of hurting her or her being dropped. 

“Watch this, Florian!” Basil said. She put her finger in the palm of Iris’s hand. “Look, she grabbed me!” 

Florian marveled at that. “Can I try, Daddy?” 

“Of course,” Crowley said. “She’s your sister too. I’d let you hold her if you wanted to do that.” 

Florian shook his head. He closed the distance between him and his baby sister. He stared at her for a moment because this was the first time he was getting a proper look at her. “Wow,” he murmured. 

“Isn’t she just!” Basil replied. Florian nodded and put his finger in the palm of Iris’s free hand. He looked over to his mommy.

“Oh, she likes you, darling. You’re her big brother. She’s going to look up to you.” Aziraphale smiled. 

“She’s so little!” Florian said. “Her whole hand fits around my finger!” He thought of something he wanted to do, but he wasn’t sure it was going to be safe. “Can I kiss her head?”

Aziraphale was melting at the sight of this. “Of course, my dear. I bet she would be tickity boo about it.”

Even hearing that it was safe, Florian hesitated for a moment before deciding that his mommy wouldn’t lie to him about what was or was not ok, especially when it came to the new baby. He leaned over and softly kissed the top of her head. When nothing bad happened, he did it again. 

“Oh, I love you, baby Iris!” He declared. 

“See, you don’t have to be scared of her,” Basil said, giving Iris a kiss as well. “You just have to be careful.” She rocked her sister a little bit. 

Aziraphale knew that if he could replay a moment forever, it would be this one. His three children all together. 

Crowley grabbed the angel’s hand and kissed his temple. “Such a sweet sight,” he murmured. “And we made it happen.”

“This reminds me of why we want a big family. I hope this has somewhat helped your crisis.” He whispered, nuzzling his husband.

Crowley smiled. “Definitely reminds me that I’m better off now than I was,” Crowley said with a soft laugh. 

“I wanna try holding her,” Florian said. 

“Ok, sweetheart.” Aziraphale looked at Crowley to help him. 

Crowley carefully crawled over Basil and eased the baby out of her arms. He had Basil scoot over so that Florian could have the edge of the bed. 

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Crowley said. “I know how much she’s been scaring you.”

“I want to, Daddy!” Florian said with confidence. 

“Alright,” Crowley replied. He directed Florian on how to sit and how to hold his arms. “Now, you have to support her head, alright?” Crowley said. Florian nodded. “Are you ready for her?” Florian nodded again. Crowley eased her into Florian’s arms and adjusted them as needed. He sat right by the edge of the bed so he would be right there to watch Florian to make sure he didn’t accidentally hold her in a way that would end up hurting her or anything like that. This was his first time holding a baby. 

Basil scooted closer to her brother because she wasn’t done cooing over her little sister just yet. She hadn’t been done holding her either, but with how much of a fuss Florian had made over the whole situation, she figured she should probably give him a turn with the baby.

“Mama! Look!” Florian said. “I’m holding her!”

Aziraphale was so proud of Florian, and it showed all over his face. “Yeah, you are, my love. Can you talk to sissy? She likes soft voices.”

“Hello, Iris,” Florian cooed. “I’m your brother Florian, and I love you  _ so  _ much.” He kissed her head again. “When you get big, we’re gonna play the bestest games,” he said. “You’re so cute!” He double-checked that Crowley was still on the floor in case he would mess up before starting to sway in the bed, as he’d seen Basil doing. Iris smiled and Florian gasped. “Look! She smiled!”

Aziraphale chuckled. “And when she’s a bit bigger, she will laugh and coo at you.”

Florian pulled her closer to his chest. Crowley stood up slightly, watching her head support, but settled when Florian stopped moving. 

“Can I have her back?” Basil asked. “I want her back.” 

Crowley smiled. “I think it’s about time that we let your mother rest up a bit. He went through a lot to bring her about last night. I  _ know  _ that he’s not going to  _ admit  _ to needing a rest with you around, so I’m going to do it for him.” He lifted Iris out of Florian’s arms. “Now let’s get out so he can rest.” Basil and Florian made their way off the bed. As soon as they left the room, Crowley leaned over to kiss the angel. “I love you. Rest up.”

Aziraphale nodded with a yawn. “See you later, my darlings.” 

Crowley smiled and he shut the light off and the door on his way out.

  
  
  



	20. Parties all Night

Now, as with any new baby, was to come the lack of sleep, and little Iris was no exception. Aziraphale was waking around the clock to nurse her, and Crowley was doing what he could to support him. Sometimes Aziraphale would be found sleeping with Iris at his chest, who was also sleeping. He was a very dedicated mother. On this middle of the night excursion, Aziraphale was starting to look ragged. 

“Aziraphale, please, just let me take her,” Crowley begged, hating to see his angel like he was. “I can get her a bottle, it is no big deal. I know you like nursing, but you  _ cannot  _ keep killing yourself like this, my love.”

Aziraphale was rocking her she wailed. “I do have some pumped milk in the fridge. It needs to be warmed, but she needs me.” He kissed his little girl’s delicate head.

“She needs you to  _ rest _ ,” Crowley said. “She’s my daughter too,  _ let me help you _ .” Crowley was desperate. He knew that the angel was always like this when the children were in the newborn stage. He had fought the angel to try and get some rest with the other two, he would continue the fight now. Aziraphale would be no good to any of the children if he wasn’t properly taking care of himself. “Please, Aziraphale. Give her to me and go get some rest.”

Aziraphale sighed heavily and he gently handed his little daughter over to Crowley. “I’ll . . . I’ll go warm the milk.” He sounded close to tears as he went downstairs. He needed to feel helpful. 

Crowley rocked his daughter in his arms. “Your mama loves you very much, little one,” Crowley murmured. “He lets taking care of you and your siblings take over his entire life and he forgets that he needs to take care of himself too.” He kissed her head. “I really just wish he would trust me a little bit more. Give himself more of a break.”

Aziraphale returned with the warmed bottle of milk, handing it to Crowley. “I do trust you. I’m just still attached to her. Well, I always will be, but I was so used to her in my belly I just want to be near her constantly. She was in there for such a long time.” Aziraphale was dealing with his hormones being all whack-a-doo.

Crowley smiled over at his angel. “I know. She’s spent most of her existence inside you.” He kissed Aziraphale’s temple before taking the bottle. He smiled at his infant daughter. “Oh, yes, I know, you must be  _ starving _ ,” he murmured in reply to her cries. “Mommy’s brought you a bottle and Daddy’s going to feed you, alright?” He tested the bottle on his wrist before placing it in Iris’s mouth. “And your mommy is going to go to bed now and get some sleep. Daddy has this covered.” Crowley looked at Aziraphale with pleading eyes. 

Aziraphale nodded, going to crawl back into bed, but he would have to get up again to relieve the milk in his chest, so it wouldn’t be as much rest as his demon would like to think. Aziraphale let a few tears fall onto the pillow. 

Crowley rocked Iris as she ate. He burped her as needed, and soothed her for a bit afterward before placing her back in her bassinet. He crawled back into bed beside Aziraphale and wrapped his arms around the angel. “I’ve got her for the rest of the night, don’t you worry about anything,” Crowley murmured, sleep already almost getting the best of him. “I love you.” 

Aziraphale cried more, hearing how gentle his husband was. “I love you too darling, he whispered. 

Upon processing that Aziraphale was crying, he squeezed the angel tighter. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not being a good mommy,” he sniffled. 

Crowley wished he could somehow be closer to the angel. “What are you talking about? Of course you’re a good mommy!”

Aziraphale just sniffled and shivered. He didn’t really have an answer. He was just emotional and he had a right to be. 

“Basil and Florian  _ love  _ you,” Crowley said. “They love you more than anything else. Iris isn’t old enough to have any particular feelings about you or anything really, but she is going to love you too. Not that I blame them. I can’t imagine anyone being a better mommy than you are to our beautiful children. They are  _ truly  _ lucky to have you.”

Aziraphale leaned over to kiss Crowley’s lips. “I don’t know what I would do without you, my dear husband.” 

Crowley smiled. “You wouldn’t be worried about being a good mom, that’s something,” Crowley joked. 

Aziraphale smiled and yawned, letting sleep wash over his tired corporation.

Crowley kissed the angel again. He watched the angel fall asleep. Once he was certain that he was out, he picked Iris up, careful not to wake her up, and took her out of the bedroom and into the nursery. He really didn’t want to risk having her cries wake the poor angel up before morning. Crowley had given his word. He had the baby for the night, and he would not be letting the angel lose any more sleep over her. He settled himself in the rocking chair with his daughter. He didn’t technically need sleep, due to being a demon. Aziraphale usually wouldn’t either, but his corporation was trying to recover from creating life, so Crowley was willing to be patient with that. 

An hour or so later, little Iris began mewling and whimpering, which led to full-blown newborn wails.

“Oh, baby, I know,” Crowley said. “I know. It’s so hard. What do you need, my love? Daddy is right here. Anything you need from me is yours.” He began rocking her and listening carefully to her cry to see if he could figure out what she needed.

Another little voice sounded. “Daddy, what are you doing awake?” Florian rubbed his little eyes.

“Your sister needs some support,” Crowley replied. “Little babies don’t know time yet, so we just have to help her whenever she needs it.” He placed a kiss on her head, still trying to get her soothed. She couldn’t possibly be hungry again, and her diaper wasn’t full, so what was her problem?

“How come she cries a lot, Daddy?” Florian got closer, placing his hand on the baby’s back.

“She’s not old enough to know words yet, so crying is her only way to tell us that something is wrong and she needs help,” Crowley replied. He began bouncing her. Perhaps that would be better.

Iris slowly began to calm down, clinging to her daddy’s shirt as she mewled a bit. 

“I know baby. Everything is hard. Daddy’s got you. Everything will be ok, my love.” He placed a kiss on her head. “Why don’t you head back to bed, Florian. I can take you there and tuck you back in if you would like.” He continued the bouncing since that is what was working to keep the baby calm, and if the baby stopped crying, there was no chance of Azirpahale waking up again because of her.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Florian asked, taking Crowley’s free hand. 

“I’ve got her,” Crowley said, smiling down at his youngest daughter. “But I appreciate your offer. Perhaps we should get up early in the morning to prepare a special surprise for your mother.” Crowley began walking towards Florian’s bedroom.

“Yeah! Mommy seems really sad sometimes, Daddy.” Florian sighed.

“I know, baby,” Crowley said, sad to know that Florian had caught on to his mother’s mood. “It takes a lot to recover from having a baby, and he’s just having a hard time adjusting to not being pregnant anymore.”

“Mommy likes to have babies?” Florian asked. “I actually like having a little sister. It makes me feel like a big boy.” He puffed out his chest. 

Crowley smiled. “Your mother  _ loves  _ having babies, but we’re not in any rush to have more siblings for you. Iris here needs to get out of diapers first.” Crowley smiled down to the baby in his arms before looking back at Florian. “Alright, hop in bed. Morning won’t come if you don’t get back to sleep.”

Florian smiled as he yawned, cuddling into his pillows. “Goodnight, Daddy. Goodnight baby Iris.” 

“Goodnight, Florian,” Crowley replied. “Sleep well, my prince of darkness.” Crowley bent down to place a kiss on his son’s forehead before leaving the room. He headed back to the nursery, still not wanting Aziraphale to wake up with the baby. 

Baby Iris was sucking on her little fist, making cooing sounds in her sleep. Crowley smiled. Sweet angel, she was. Perhaps he was a little grateful that all of their children were of the more mild-mannered side of things. He wasn’t quite sure if he and Aziraphale would be able to handle a child who fed more into the more hellish part of their inheritance.

Luckily for Crowley’s sake, Iris only woke up two more times after that. That meant that he would be able to surprise Aziraphale in the morning, with the help of his son. 

Once it got late enough in the morning to be early, but not  _ too _ early, he went into his son’s room to see if he was awake yet. He wasn’t, and Crowley wasn’t about to force Florian to help with something this early in the morning if he wasn’t awake for it yet. 

Instead, he headed to the kitchen so he could start the stuff that he knew Florian wouldn’t be able to help with, no matter how much he wanted to help. He brought together the ingredients to make crepes again since those were the angel’s favorites. Crepes were too hard for Crowley to manage properly without the help of miracles, so he wasn’t going to have Florian help with that part of it anyway.

By the time Florian woke up, he could help with the very easy stuff. Crowley had decided to make a variety of things. Everything from crepes to bacon and eggs. He knew he was making more food than the family would ever eat in one morning, but that was also sort of the point. They could put some of it away, so if Crowley ever slept in too late, Aziraphale wouldn’t have to worry too much about getting food on the table, at least for the next few days. Once it was to a point that all of the food was cooking and the dishes were all rinsed off, Crowley got out some paper and crayons for Florian. 

“I think Mama would like to have some more drawings, what do you think?” Crowley asked. 

Florian got very excited and began to get to work on drawings for his wonderful mama. Florian loved to color and do anything involving art. 

Iris began to cry, so Crowley went to get her from the nursery, so her crying still wouldn’t wake the angel up. He wanted Aziraphale to get as much sleep as was possible before he even thought about getting up. He got a bottle ready for her once he was back in the kitchen, knowing it was probably about that time for her. 

Iris began to eat gently as she closed her dainty, little eyes as she enjoyed her breakfast. Basil had woken up like a hot mess. “Ngk, morning,” she yawned.

“Good morning, princess,” Crowley replied. “Did you sleep alright?”

“Yeah. I heard some crying last night, but I went back to sleep.” She miracled some cereal. 

“That’s good,” Crowley said. “Are you sure you want cereal? I’m making breakfast, though it’s fine if you just want your cereal.”

“No, I want cereal today.” She smiled and poured her bowl. She was a pretty easy kid. 

Crowley smiled. “Suit yourself,” he replied. “I’m not offended. This is mostly for your mother anyway.” He turned the heat off due to the fact that everything had finished cooking. “Who wants to help Daddy plate it and bring it in for your mother?”

“I can!” Florian finished his drawings since his sister was munching away.

Crowley got the step stool so Florian could see what he was doing and got a couple of plates down from the cupboard. He helped Florian to put everything on the plate so there wouldn’t be a complete mess on the counter. Once everything was plated up, Crowley smiled. 

“Oh, it looks so good!” Crowley said. “Well done, Florian!” He said. “Now, go get your drawings and I’ll pour your mother a glass of juice that you can take in for him with your drawings.” 

Florian gathered up all of his drawings with a proud expression, waiting to follow his daddy. Crowley handed him the glass of juice and put the plates on a tray. He placed Iris in her swing, and she started to fuss a little bit. 

“Daddy will be right back,” Crowley promised her before going to get the tray and heading into his bedroom.

Florian followed him where Aziraphale was still sleeping. 

Crowley smiled. Poor exhausted angel. He put the tray on the bedside table and directed Florian to do the same with the juice and the drawings. Crowley kissed the angel’s temple. “Sleep easy, my love. I’ve got the kids,” he whispered before leading Florian out of the room.


	21. Rest and More Rest

Crowley was more than happy to take the kids for as long as Azirpahale needed the rest. The angel had been through a lot. Both in the last few weeks and in the last few months. Growing a baby was incredibly difficult. Trying to take care of a newborn was also incredibly difficult. Crowley suspected that Aziraphale put a sort of pressure on himself that he had to do absolutely everything on his own, no matter how much Crowley offered and wanted to help out with the baby. He didn’t understand why, but he was willing to be patient with the angel and assure him that he was there to stay. 

Perhaps that’s why Crowley insisted on making breakfast for the family all the time, and why he had insisted on leaving it in the bedroom on that particular morning for the angel.

Aziraphale slowly looked around. He had hoped Crowley would be with him. However, he did have a very nice breakfast before him. 

Crowley tapped on the door lightly before walking in. He’d been checking on the angel periodically all morning just to make sure the miracle on the food was working and that the angel was getting his much-needed rest rather than sitting and stressing about everything like he had been.

“Ah, you’re awake,” Crowley murmured. He closed the door behind him. “Do you feel any better at all?”

Aziraphale immediately smiled. “Oh, darling. Please sit by me.” He started to eat.

“Of course, my love,” Crowley replied, crawling into bed. He kissed the angel’s temple. “You  _ look  _ a lot better than you have these last few weeks. Did you sleep alright though?”

“I did, my dear, yes. Thanks to you.” Aziraphale sipped the juice. 

“That’s wonderful,” Crowley said. “The kids are all fine, by the way. Basil and Florian are playing a little game and Iris is asleep in her swing. Did you see Florian’s drawings? He wanted to help you feel better and I thought that would be a good way to do it.”

“Yes, he’s so sweet.” Aziraphale looked over to the drawings with fondness. 

“He is,” Crowley said. “We really lucked out with our little ones, didn’t we?” Crowley smiled. “The older two are so incredibly caring, and it seems Iris is going easy on us for now. Perhaps that’s an indication that she’s going to be trouble later.” Crowley laughed. “If that’s the case, we’d better start gathering our stamina now.”

“Or she might be just as sweet as her siblings.” Aziraphale kissed Crowley’s cheek and held his hand.

"I suppose I can accept that possibility," Crowley replied with a smile. The kids started pounding on the door. Crowley sighed. "I suppose I'd better go out with them." He kissed the angel. "You sit tight and have a self-care day."

“I want to see Iris.” Aziraphale was not understanding the whole self-care thing.

"I'll bring her in, but only for a few minutes. Otherwise, you're going to be in here doing your reading or having a nice bath or whatever. I really don't care what, but you need a break from the kids." Crowley stood up. "Is that a deal?"

“Yes, scouts honor. I believe that is the right saying.” Aziraphale gave a very nice smile.

Crowley snuck one last glance at his husband before heading out. 

"Daddy! Florian won't play Barbie with me!" Basil complained. Crowley smiled. 

"He doesn't have to if he doesn't wish to. How about you give me a few minutes and I'll be out to play with you?" Crowley asked. 

"Ok," Basil murmured, heading back to her room to gather the Barbies in question. 

Crowley made his way across the living room where Iris was still sleeping soundly. He smiled. "Hello, my beautiful princess," he said. "I know you're having a nice sleep here, but your mommy wants to see you and we have a deal, ok?" He stopped the swing and lifted her before taking her in to see Aziraphale. Iris was so sweet and precious in his arms as she cooed and she made little noises. "Oh, hello, love," he whispered. He smiled over at Aziraphale. "Alright, here she is."

Aziraphale held his arms out, immediately snuggling her. “Hello, my beautiful baby girl.”

"Only a few minutes," Crowley reminded him. "Then you're not going to have anything to do with her or any of the children until tomorrow. Taking a break from responsibility."

Aziraphale rocked his little one and kissed her head lovingly on her as he did. He adored her features so much. “You’re so beautiful.” He whispered, so enamored with her. 

"Thanks to you," Crowley said. "You're the one who made her."

“Crowley, I do remember two of us made this sweet baby.”

Crowley smiled. "I'm the one who put her in your womb, that's true. But you're the one who actually built her." Crowley kissed her head. "'Sides, she has your face. That's all you. Nothin' t'do with me."

“We do look similar, don’t we darling?” Aziraphale didn’t take his eyes of Iris for a moment.

"You do," Crowley murmured. "Glad for it too. Got the good genes and all that." He smiled. "I promised Basil a game of Barbies, so I suppose I should go off and do that," Crowley said it, though he didn't want to leave. He loved playing with his children, but he also loved sitting here staring at his youngest daughter and husband.

“You’re such a wonderful father, my dear.” Aziraphale was skin to skin with Iris now. He loved feeling his babies close to his heart.

Crowley's heart melted at the scene before him. He knew that he should take Iris away so Aziraphale wouldn't worry about her or feel responsible for her, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Besides, at the current moment, he knew that if he took Iris away from Aziraphale, it would do more harm than good. He sighed as he went to join Basil in her room.

“You ready to play Barbies daddy!” Basil was so excited.

"I'm  _ always  _ ready to play Barbies with you," Crowley replied. "There isn't anything I'd rather do."

Basil handed him her redhead ken doll and she had the other white hair ken doll. 

Crowley smiled at the doll in his hand. "Alright, how are we playing here?"

“Mommy and Daddy.” She giggled “Show me how you met again!” She handed him the other doll.

"Oh alright," Crowley said. "Now, this was a very long time ago, so I don't remember  _ exactly _ ." Crowley reached for the little wall that he'd built specifically when Basil had begun asking about how they met. He stood the white-haired doll on the wall and slithered the redheaded one to stand by the white-haired one.

_ "That went down like a lead balloon." _

Basil looked at him so interested.

_ "Sorry, what was that?" _ Crowley shook the blond doll to indicate that he was the one speaking. 

_ "I said well that went down like a lead balloon _ ," Crowley said louder and more firmly, shaking the redhead. 

_ "Yes, yes. It did, rather," _

Basil was giggling as she watched her daddy show her how he and Aziraphale met.

Crowley continued to go through the scene of how they met, ending with the white-haired doll's arm over the head of the red-haired doll to simulate the wings. 

"I don't know about  _ you, _ but it feels to  _ me  _ that it's just me playing and you're watching."

“Oh sorry Daddy now I can take over.” She chuckled, taking the blonde hair doll back. 

"What do you want to play now?" The question was cut off by a knock at the door. 

"Daddy?" Florian asked. 

"What do you need?" Crowley called. 

"I wanna play with you!" Florian said. 

“You said you didn't wanna play.” Basil folded her arms.

"Not with  _ Barbies _ . With Daddy." Florian shot back. 

"Maybe we can find a compromise," Crowley interjected.

“Nah it’s okay. I’ll go check on Mommy.” Basil stood up. 

Crowley sighed. "Alright." He also stood and went to go spend time with Florian. "What would you like to do?"

“Let’s go play with my race cars?” Florian asked gently tugging on his daddy.

Basil knocked on the master bedroom door

“Come in.” Aziraphale had a soft voice.

"Mama, what are you doing?" Basil asked.

“Oh hello, sweetheart come here." 

Basil walked up to the bed and crawled in. She smiled when she saw baby Iris. "Oh! That's where she went!"

Aziraphale patted the bed “You want to say hello to baby sister dear?”

Basil crawled over and sat down beside Aziraphale. "No, I wanted to see you, but I'll say hello." She looked at her baby sister. "Hello, Iris!"

Iris managed to have her eyes open as she looked right at her big sister, her little hands by her face.

"Mama, can I hold her?" Basil asked.

“Of course you can.” Aziraphale gently handed the baby to Basil and he buttoned his shirt up. 

"Why are you not coming out today? Are you sick?" Basil asked once the baby was settled in her arms.

“Oh no, precious. Daddy was giving me a day to rest.” He smiled at his two beautiful girls

"Why?" Basil said, her eyes now on her sister.

“Because having a baby and recovering can be difficult my dear.” He was honest.

"Then why would you have babies?" Basil asked. "I mean I love Iris, but why?"

“Because, my love, I love doing it. Mommy worked a very sad and mean job before you came along and being a mommy is the best job in the world.” He got teary-eyed thinking about how much he loved his children. 

Basil considered this for a second before shaking her head. "I don't think I want babies. I don't wanna get stuck in bed all the time like you are today."

Aziraphale knew she was way too little to decide that “You’re almost eight. I wouldn’t even want you to think that far off alright my dove?"

"Ok, Mama," she replied. "What have you been doing all day?" She looked around the room. There weren't toys or anything in there!

“I’ve been snuggling your sister.” Aziraphale blushed and smiled at her. 

"Sounds boring," Basil said. "That's it?"

“Yes, dear. I’m sorry this wasn’t as exciting as you were hoping.” He admitted to her. 

"Hmm," she said as she tried to think of something to help her mama be more entertained. "Do you like it?" She said instead.

“Like what?” Aziraphale asked.

"Sitting in here by yourself with nothing to do like Daddy is making you do," Basil replied. "I don't like getting stuck in my bed."

“Well . . . Iris keeps me awake at night dear, so I don’t mind the extra time in bed.”

"I guess," Basil replied. She hadn't thought of that. Crowley knocked on the door. 

"Hello, how are my beautiful princesses and my amazing husband?" He stepped into the room, Florian trailing behind him. He was mostly coming in to check that Iris wasn't giving her mother any trouble. 

“We are well, my darling, Basil is holding her sister.” Aziraphale perked up.

"Isn't that nice?" He walked across the room and placed a kiss on Aziraphale's temple. "Are you feeling more refreshed today?" 

“I am darling thank you for your help today.” He kissed Crowley’s chin. 

"I know you needed it," Crowley said. "You're always so hard on yourself when we have a newborn." He looked over to Basil and Iris. Basil was speaking to her in a soft voice, though Crowley couldn't hear what she was saying. "Don't let yourself recover properly from pushing an entire living being out of your body."

“She was a larger baby too.” Aziraphale rubbed over his empty belly.

"Exactly my point, my love," Crowley said. He kissed the angel. "Now, how's about I take the girls and you rest up? You've had miss Iris all morning. I'll get lunch prepared. Whatever you like."

Crowley did just as he promised, leaving Aziraphale to properly recuperate. He knew that the angel would be back to his usual not taking any help from Crowley as soon as he let up, but he knew that forcing the angel down would make everything all the worse. But he was perfectly ok keeping a close watch over the angel and monitoring when he  _ needed _ another day like this. 


	22. A happy Family

Four months had passed. Life with Iris was more routine and wonderful. The kids were almost done with school and that meant the summer holidays. Crowley had started the classes that he had set out to do as well.

The first month of Crowley's classes was hard for him. He'd never in his entire existence been enrolled in school (for obvious reasons), so he'd had no idea what to expect when he walked in. He'd had a hard time balancing his schoolwork and making time for his children, but once he got the hang of it, he was able to stick with it. He wasn't the top of his class like he'd expected to be due to his age, but he was passing. He decided that  _ passing _ was good enough.

Aziraphale could see the improvement in his husband instantly, and he was so happy about it.

Crowley was still playing around with what major he was going to do. However, he still had a few years before he  _ had _ to decide what he wanted to become a perfect expert in and do for . . . well not the rest of his life, but it would hopefully last him at least ten years. Especially with how long it was going to take him to get the qualifications for whatever he decided on.

Aziraphale was preparing a nice dinner to celebrate the end of the week. Baby Iris was in a sling across his chest as he moved around happily. “Children set the table please.”

"Ok Mama!" Basil said, rushing to help her mother. Florian followed suit, always wanting to make himself helpful.

Aziraphale smiled to himself as he heard Iris making noise. “Are you a happy baby?” Iris seemed to hum in response. 

Crowley burst out of the bedroom. "Good  _ Lord _ does college suck!" He shook his head. "But I did manage to get my work done for the weekend." He went to the kitchen and placed a lingering kiss on Aziraphale's lips. He smiled down to his infant daughter. "Hello, lovely baby." He blew a raspberry on her cheek. "Being good for Mama, are we?"

“She’s being wonderful darling. I’m glad to see your homework is done.” Aziraphale hummed happily in response. “You’re so happy these days darling.”

"Of course I am," Crowley replied. "I have an  _ incredible _ husband who has been there quite literally since the beginning. Been there for me through everything. I have  _ three _ wonderful children. I'm doing something  _ new  _ with my life. It is  _ incredibly  _ rare to find something  _ new _ to try that is actually half-interesting. And school, as much as it sucks, is  _ more _ than half-interesting." He kissed his husband again. "I have nothing to be  _ unhappy  _ about."

“Then are you ready for dinner my love?” Aziraphale went to place little Iris in her baby bouncer.

"I'm always ready to eat," Crowley replied. "Give me a chance to spend time with my family and get my nose out of my textbook." He smiled and shook his head. "For being an immortal being, I really don't know much."

“And that’s alright. Life is all about learning. I’m glad to be learning with you.” Aziraphale nuzzled him.

Crowley wrapped his arm around the angel. "And learn we have. Kids bring something new every day." 

That’s what life is about. Learning no matter what. And love is the greatest of lessons to learn.

"Daddy!" Florian ran up to Crowley and hugged his legs because he was finished setting the table. He looked up and smiled. "I missed you." 

"Missed me?" Crowley picked his son up. "I've been here all day!" Florian shrugged. 

"You've been working though."

"But I'm done now," Crowley said. "And I don't have to do anything else until Monday." Florian cheered. "Now, let's see what your mother has made for dinner."

That night was much like most nights in the following years. And they were filled with love and of course above all the sweet breath air of free will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading this far. It means absolutely everything and we are so glad that you're enjoying this one!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Hits and kudos build the sense of community that we both love so much.


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